Economics

SwineCast 1042 Show Notes:

• From the 2018 Midwest Pork Conference comes timely insight on the US & China trade future with Brett Stuart of Global AgriTrends. Brett highlights the current state of the ag economy with insights on trade politics and market positions.
• Brett suggests to watch for if (and when) a pork gap emerges. He also states 2019 pork exports would need to increase 20% to keep per capita supplies steady with 2018, which are record high.

Crossing Borders: Contaminated Feed and Food Dr. Scott Dee shares insights at the 2018 Allen D. Leman Swine Conference on how he found out more about animal diseases spreading through feed and getting into swine operations. He pulls together the background info into a story that highlights the clues and data that lead him to dig deeper into the possibility that feed is the vector [video].

A Digital Revolution: Pork's People Driven Marketing Strategy Steve Lerch, Google, shares insights on how consumers search for information as it relates to food, health, and life. Mr. Lerch focuses on how people think about the protein market and what information is misinterpreted by consumers about protein. Mr. Lerch closes with updates on what trust means to consumers [video].

SwineCast 1041 Show Notes:

• In this episode of The Squeal, a team of experts addresses a topic of greatest concern to the collective industry mind, biosecurity. Sharing hands on techniques and implementation ideas are Dr. Joel Nerem (Pipestone Veterinary Services), Dr. Andrea Pitkin (PIC Health Assurance Veterinary Team), and Dr. Jess Wadell (PIC Health Assurance Veterinary Team).
• Biosecurity - It's something that just doesn't happen from 8:00 to 5:00, it has to be 24/7. It has to be on the weekends, it has to be on the holidays. It just has to be part of what people do every day, and it's often not convenient. The things that this episode talks about are going to prevent disease and are not convenient. That's why it has to be culture. It has to be just ingrained.

SwineCast 1040 Show Notes:

• In this episode of At The Meeting Honoring Dr. Bob Morrison, discussion continues on African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreaks in China and Europe.
• Dr. Montserrat Torremorell, Dr. Tom Wetzell, and Dr. Gordon Spronk have an important conversation about the impact of ASF on the global swine industry, and what it could mean if it reaches the United States.
• The cohosts sit down with Dr. José Manuel Sánchez-Vizcaíno from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid to discuss the history of the disease and the work he and his team have done to combat ASF, such as developing laboratory tests to aid in diagnosis and control.
• "African swine fever is, in general, an underestimated disease that many people don’t understand," says Dr. Sánchez-Vizcaíno. "But one of the keys to fighting ASF is an early-detection system."

African Swine Fever – a real and present global threat Dr. Chris Oura (Professor of Veterinary Virology, School of Veterinary Medicine Faculty of Medical Sciences, The University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago) explains what we know about the African Swine Fever (ASF) virus, what the associated clinical signs are, and the various paths of transmission. From the 2018 Allen D. Leman Swine Conference, September 15-18, 2018, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA [video].

SwineCast 1033 Show Notes:

• In this episode of At the Meeting honoring Dr. Bob Morrison, we share a conversation on Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) breaks in the summer. Dr. Montse Torremorell joins Dr. Gordon Spronk and Dr. Tom Wetzel with special guests Dr. Cesar Corzo and Dr. Juan Sanhueza.
• The group talks about the Morrison Swine Health Monitoring Program and what data they have been collecting and analyzing. One of the questions they are now able to address is if there are more new PRRS breaks this summer compared to other summers. One of the observations is that incidence of summer breaks is about 3% of farms, which is about 250,000 sows.
• Take away: 1) The industry should be looking at breaks all year long (not just in the fall / winter months) and 2) operations should continue practice disease prevention and spreading with regular biosecurity processes.

Understanding Porcine Respiratory Disease Complex Dr. Christa Goodell, Technical Manager, Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc., and Dr. Reid Philips, PRRS Senior Technical Manager, Boehringer Ingelheim, provides insight on the impact and costs of porcine respiratory diseases like Porcine Respiratory Disease Complex (PRDC), Porcine Reproductive And Respiratory Syndrome virus (PRRSv), and Influenza A Virus in Swine (IAV-S). Drs. Goodell and Philips outline approaches to diagnosis, treatment, and prevention within swine operations [video].

SwineCast 1027 Show Notes:

• Dr. Craig Morris, National Pork Board's Vice President of International Marketing, covers the past year pork export growth and highlights the possible futures for exports.