The National Pork Board today announced the launch of AgView, a technology solution to help the U.S. pork industry respond faster than ever before possible in the event of a foreign animal disease (FAD) outbreak. The web-based tool will allow participating producers to easily share their farm’s FAD status updates and pig movement data with state animal health officials. The opt-in, no-fee technology – funded by the Pork Checkoff – will allow for contact-tracing of infected animals to help rapidly contain or regionalize a potential FAD outbreak.
While any FAD outbreak on even a single farm would be devastating, the potential collective losses are staggering. According to a recent study1 from Iowa State University, an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in the United States could cost the pork industry $50 billion over 10 years.
"When pork producers adopt AgView, they are not only helping protect their farms, but also the entire industry," said Pork Board CEO Bill Even. "COVID taught us, the best way to quickly contain and recover from a significant supply chain disruption, which an FAD outbreak would be, is through real-time information, collaboration and a common data set to inform decision making."
AgView is designed to help the U.S. pork industry coordinate a unified response to FADs across the nation – from grain farmers to producers, to state health officials and veterinarians. When producer-users grant permission, AgView securely provides state animal health officials with health status, site and pig movement data from registered farms in real-time. This data sharing would go a long way in aiding an effective FAD response and could ultimately help the industry more quickly contain or regionalize in an outbreak.
"While local and state reporting protocols already are in place, there is no nationwide repository for this data and no mechanism for real-time sharing," said Pork Board Chief Veterinarian Dave Pyburn. "Time is money in an FAD response, which is why we’re excited to have AgView to help fill that gap and facilitate a quicker return to business for producers, especially in our export markets."
AgView, as a single software platform, allows for the rapid and accurate visualization of relevant pig movement data and diagnostic test results to create visibility, accountability and trust during an outbreak of ASF or another FAD. To make this easier for producers, and ensure data is up to date, AgView can integrate with many existing record-keeping systems for easy synchronization. For those who do manual record-keeping, AgView also accepts imports from an Excel template. For more information, visit www.pork.org/agview/.
The National Pork Board has responsibility for Pork Checkoff-funded research, promotion and consumer information projects and for communicating with pork producers and the public. The Pork Checkoff funds national and state programs in consumer education and marketing, retail and foodservice marketing, export market promotion, production improvement, science and technology, swine health, pork safety, and environmental management and sustainability. For the past half century, the U.S. pork industry has delivered on its commitment to sustainable production and has made significant strides in reducing the environmental impact of pig farming. Through a legislative national Pork Checkoff, pork producers invest $0.40 for each $100 value of hogs sold. Importers of pork products contribute a like amount, based on a formula. For information on Checkoff-funded programs, pork producers can call the Pork Checkoff Service Center at (800) 456-7675 or visit www.pork.org.
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1 This study is an update to "Economy Wide Impacts of a Foreign Animal Disease in the United States" published in 2011 and funded by the National Pork Board. This update was funded by Iowa State University and BarnTools, a digital biosecurity platform company.