Producer Priorities Drive a More Coordinated Swine Health Research Agenda

Producer priorities are shaping a more coordinated swine health research agenda. At the National Swine Health Strategy Research Summit, researchers, funding organizations and industry leaders compared ongoing work, identified research gaps and explored opportunities to focus future investments on the health challenges producers have prioritized.

Research Starts with Producer Priorities
Producers have already identified the swine health challenges that require collective action. The next task is ensuring research investments, expertise and projects are focused on those priorities rather than fragmented across the industry.

That was the focus of the National Swine Health Strategy Research Summit, hosted by the National Pork Board. Researchers, funding organizations and industry leaders examined where work is underway, where gaps remain and where collaboration could accelerate practical solutions.

“We haven’t brought this group of researchers, funding organizations and industry leaders together in this way before,” said Dr. Marisa Rotolo, director of swine health at NPB. “It was important to ground the conversation in the National Swine Health Strategy, so everyone started from the same place: the priorities producers have identified for our industry.”

The year 2015 was just before a national election – which have major influences on policy paths, administration goals, and how farmers feel about their future.