Jonker Shares Importance of Animal Health Funding

Jan 08, 2026

Chief Science Officer Jamie Jonker participated in three virtual listening sessions Dec. 9-11 hosted by USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to share NMPF’s stance on upcoming animal health funding needs.

APHIS is advancing animal disease preparedness and response through its Farm Bill animal health programs and increasing its budget to $233 million annually beginning in 2026. This includes:

$153 million per year for the National Animal Vaccine and Veterinary Countermeasures Bank;
$70 million per year for the National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program; and
$10 million per year for the National Animal Health Laboratory Network.

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Video: Reducing Nursery Feed Costs Without Losing Performance - Dr. Julian Arroyave

In this episode of The Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, Dr. Julian Arroyave, a research swine nutritionist at Carthage Innovative Swine Solutions, discusses nursery feed budget strategies designed to reduce costs without compromising pig performance. He explains trials comparing high, medium, and low phase 1 and phase 2 feed budgets, including commercial validation data showing improved income over feed cost when lower-budget programs were applied under healthy herd conditions. Listen now on all major platforms!

Click here to read the full research article: https://academic.oup.com/tas/article/...

"Results showed that the low-budget program increased income over feed cost by $1.48 per pig."

Meet the guest: Dr. Julian Arroyave / julian-arroyave-jaramillo-638740129 is a research swine nutritionist at Carthage Innovative Swine Solutions, with experience in nursery nutrition, diet formulation, and commercial research trials. He completed his PhD at Kansas State University and previously worked as a nutrition supervisor at Kekén in Mexico. His work focuses on nutritional strategies that improve production efficiency while controlling feed costs. Learn more from Dr. Julian Arroyave Jaramillo on The Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, available on all major platforms.