Over 60 Delegates Attend Ontario Pork Policy Day

Sep 25, 2023

Guelph - Ontario Pork held its 2023 Policy Day with over 60 producers participating. The annual event is a chance for delegates to provide feedback and offer suggestions on how to best move the province’s pork industry forward.

Board Chair John de Bruyn opened the discussion by providing an update on initiatives and activities that Ontario Pork has been working on during the past year.

Upcoming events include the Queen’s Park Reception in November, where producers will have the opportunity to speak directly with MPP’s to discuss the importance of government investment in our industry, emergency preparedness and improvements to risk management.

Delegates were also given an overview of proposed changes to producer statistics and were presented with a detailed marketing update.

Vice Chair Tara Terpstra led a session on how to strengthen Ontario’s pork industry by detailing the importance of producer involvement in advocacy, along with discussions on board recruitment and succession planning.

During each session delegates gave valuable feedback on what direction and priorities they’d like to see Ontario Pork focus on for next year.

The day was capped off with a presentation from representatives of the Community Safety Knowledge Alliance, who detailed the risks of cybersecurity attacks and offered a number of best practices to safeguard against cyber threats.

Watch highlights from the 2023 Policy Day here: https://youtu.be/WtBHS8SkLYE

Source : Ontario Pork

Video: What It Takes to Stop African Swine Fever - Dr. Jishu Shi

In this episode of The Swine it Podcast Show Canada, Dr. Jishu Shi, Professor of Vaccine Immunology at Kansas State University, discusses African swine fever prevention and vaccine development. He explains why ASF differs from classical swine fever and swine influenza, how the disease threatens trade and pork production, why immunization safety remains a critical hurdle, and what producers can do now to reduce the risk of introduction. Listen now on all major platforms!

"Before a safe and efficacious vaccine for ASF can be commercialized, what we really have is prevention."

Meet the guest: Dr. Jishu Shi is Professor of Vaccine Immunology and the Dr. Wayne & Hilda Appleton Endowed Professor at Kansas State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. He directs the Center on Biologics Development and Evaluation and the U.S.-China Center for Animal Health. A veterinarian and vaccine immunologist, Dr. Shi has focused on vaccines for pigs and has worked on African swine fever vaccine development, control, diagnostics, and international training since 2018. Learn more from Dr. Jishu Shi on The Swine it Podcast Show Canada, available on all major platforms.