Another pandemic is knocking on our door, but this time it’s coming for the pigs, Wired reports. African swine fever, which wiped out half the pig population in China a couple years back, arrived in Haiti and the Dominican Republic this summer. Now, U.S. regulators are frantically trying to keep it away from the states. The disease poses no threat to humans, but it can devastate hog populations: There is no cure—though there are a handful of vaccine candidates—and the virus kills nearly all of the animals who become infected.
The year 2015 was just before a national election – which have major influences on policy paths, administration goals, and how farmers feel about their future.