ASF Remains Highest International Swine Health Concern

The Executive Director of the Swine Health Information Center says the movement of African Swine Fever remains the top international swine health concern. As part of its December newsletter the Swine Health Information Center has released its monthly domestic and global swine disease surveillance reports.

 

Executive Director Dr. Paul Sundberg says globally African Swine Fever remains high on the radar, especially in eastern Europe.

 

 

It has been in Poland for about six years in wild boar and moving into domestic pigs both in northeast Poland as well straight eastern Poland but also on the western border. That western border is the border against Germany and recently what we've seen is the wild boar infection moving from Poland into Germany in three different areas, one in the north section of Brandenburg, which is the northern section by Berlin, the central section of Brandenburg and then the southern section of Germany which is the state of Saxony.

 

So far, they've all been in feral swine. There aren’t any infections in Germany of domestic pigs however Germany has lost their international markets because of the feral swine infections and that is something that is of concern, very important for the country of Germany and they're working on their plans for eradicating ASF from feral swine.

 

We've also seen new outbreaks of ASF in South Korea. As we go through eastern Europe, Asia, southeast Asia, this virus keeps moving and it keeps presenting a major risk to North American pork producers.

Video: Swine Industry Advances: Biodigesters Lower Emissions and Increase Profits

Analysis of greenhouse gas (GHG emissions) in the Canadian swine sector found that CH4 emissions from manure were the largest contributor to the overall emissions, followed by emissions from energy use and crop production.

This innovative project, "Improving Swine Manure-Digestate Management Practices Towards Carbon Neutrality With Net Zero Emission Concepts," from Dr. Rajinikanth Rajagopal, under Swine Cluster 4, seeks to develop strategies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

While the management of manure can be very demanding and expensive for swine operations, it can also be viewed as an opportunity for GHG mitigation, as manure storage is an emission source built and managed by swine producers. Moreover, the majority of CH4 emissions from manure occur during a short period of time in the summer, which can potentially be mitigated with targeted intervention.

In tandem with understanding baseline emissions, Dr. Rajagopal's work focuses on evaluating emission mitigation options. Manure additives have the potential of reducing manure methane emissions. Additives can be deployed relatively quickly, enabling near-term emission reductions while biodigesters are being built. Furthermore, additives can be a long-term solution at farms where biogas is not feasible (e.g., when it’s too far from a central digester). Similarly, after biodigestion, additives can also be used to further reduce emissions from storage to minimize the carbon intensity of the bioenergy.