Proposals Confirm Critical Need for Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Research

Jan 23, 2023

Experts say the best way to help control the next emerging disease in the U.S. pork industry is to enhance wean-to-harvest biosecurity.

That's why the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC), along with the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research and Pork Checkoff, joined together last summer to fund and launch a two-year Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Research Program.

A call for research proposals was announced last October with the goal of investigating cost-effective, innovative technologies, protocols or ideas to enhance biosecurity during the wean-to-harvest phases of production.

SHIC was hopeful for a good response and they did even better, receiving more than 41 proposal submissions.

Click here to see more...

Video: ASF Control Lessons - Dr. Mary-Louise Penrith

In this episode of The Swine it Podcast Show Canada, Dr. Mary-Louise Penrith, Extraordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria, shares what decades of work have revealed about ASF control. She explains why vaccine development remains difficult, how human activity and food waste drive disease spread, why resistant pig populations are an important research area, and how strict biosecurity with the right disinfectants can help to stop transmission. Listen now on all major platforms!

"It's really a very human-driven disease because people move pigs, decide how they're raised, how they're sold, and good biosecurity can do anything to ensure control."

Meet the guest: Dr. Mary-Louise Penrith / mary-louise-penrith-2b12bb42 is an Extraordinary Professor in the Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. A veterinarian and internationally recognized researcher, she has dedicated decades to African swine fever epidemiology, control, and pig health, supporting FAO and WOAH initiatives while advancing research and education. Listen to Dr. Mary-Louise Penrith on the Swine Health Blackbelt Podcast, available on all major platforms.