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Alberta's Project Agriculture program continues to grow

Alberta Barley, Alberta Canola, Alberta Pulse Growers, and the Alberta Wheat Commission worked together on creating new modules focusing on the crop sector. The recent addition will complement the existing free online programming and align with the current curriculum for students from grades 7 to 12. Tara Sawyer, Chair of the Alberta Barley Commission says the goal of Project Agriculture is to provide opportunities and educational support. 

"It allows teachers, students, even parents, to explore a variety of agriculture. Seeing the topics and different issues and challenges both on a local and a global context. The best part of it is it ties to their curriculum section that we are collaborating on in this new module, and it aligns with the junior high and the senior high studies and science topics.

So it's very practical, and it's coming straight from a producer source." Project Agriculture was able to expand to encompass more educational topics and sectors in agriculture, including crops, as a result of funding from the Government of Canada and the Government of Alberta through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. 

Alberta's Project Agriculture program was originally designed and implemented by Alberta Milk, Egg Famers of Alberta, Alberta Chicken Producers, Alberta Turkey Producers, and Alberta Hatching Eggs Producers.

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U.S. Swine Health Improvement Plan | Made by Producers for Producers

Video: U.S. Swine Health Improvement Plan | Made by Producers for Producers

Join Jill Brokaw, a third-generation pig farmer and staff member of the National Pork Board, as she dives into the vital role of the US Swine Health Improvement Plan, also known as US SHIP. The program establishes a national playbook of standards for monitoring African swine fever and classical swine fever.

Why Should Pork Producers Care? If a disease breaks out, officials will establish a control area to help contain the disease. This plan is designed to mitigate risk and demonstrate freedom of disease at the site level. The goal is to support business continuity outside of the control area in case of an outbreak.

How Will the Pork Industry Use US SHIP? US SHIP uses already existing programs to support the standards for biosecurity, traceability and disease surveillance.

Biosecurity: This plan uses your completed Secure Pork Supply plan to demonstrate compliance with the biosecurity program standards and shows your ability to reduce the risk of disease introduction.

Traceability: AgView can be used to demonstrate compliance with the traceability standards and the ability to electronically provide State and Federal agencies the traceability information they need to determine where disease is and isn’t.

Disease Surveillance: The Certified Swine Sampler Collector Program helps expand the number of people certified to take samples. In the event of a large-scale foreign animal disease outbreak, we will need a trained group of sample collectors to help animal health officials find where the disease is present. This is to help you demonstrate freedom of disease and support the permitted movement of animals.

Getting Started with US SHIP:

1. Enroll in U.S. Swine Health Improvement Plan

2. Share 30 days of movement data

3. Have a completed Secure Pork Supply Plan

4. Become U.S. SHIP certified

5. Maintain communication with your state

Takeaway: U.S. Swine Health Improvement Plan helps safeguard animal health. Together, we're creating a sustainable future for pork production in the United States and taking steps to strengthen the business of U.S. pork producers everywhere