The CEO of the National Pork Producers Council applauds the inclusion of provisions to address feral swine contained in U.S. House of Representatives version of the Farm, Food and National Security Act. The House of Representatives has passed a new legislative version of the U.S. Farm Bill, the Farm, Food and National Security Act, which includes provisions for addressing feral swine.
The bill now awaits action in the Senate, where the Senate Agriculture Committee is drafting its own version.Bryan Humphreys, the CEO of the National Pork Producers Council, on hand last week for World Pork Expo in Des Moines, says feral swine have become a real problem that needs to be addressed.
Quote-Bryan Humphreys-National Pork Producers Council:
Over the years the feral swine population in this country has grown significantly, mainly across the South and we've run into some significant challenges with that. Years ago, included in a Farm Bill was a pilot program to look at a certain area and see if it was even possible to eradicate the feral swine from that area and it proved itself.
It was. Now within this Farm Bill, within the House version, we have language in there to take that feral swine eradication program from a pilot program to a full program and then funding adequate to supply that.And why is that important? Feral swine are a challenge not only for the livestock sector, absolutely, and the U.S. pork industry specifically, but they are a massive, they cause millions and millions of dollars worth of damage to residential neighborhoods, to fencing.
They are a safety threat in certain communities. This goes back to protecting consumers, it goes back to protecting residents of rural communities where these animals are and it is a broader issue than just the U.S. pork industry. These animals will destroy crops, they'll destroy entire fields, they'll destroy landscaping of golf courses.
They are a detriment to residential, to crop sectors and to a number of things. So, what is at impact here is really rural America.
Humphreys suggests, as we talk about things like New World screwworm and we talk about Pseudorabies and we talk about foreign animal diseases of any kind, those are challenges that could be addressed now by eliminating feral swine.
Source : Farmscape.ca