The Swine Health Information Center’s Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Research Program, funded in collaboration with the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research and the Pork Checkoff, has recently funded two new projects to advance biosecurity of U.S. swine farms. The newly funded projects include:

These awards bring the total number of projects to 18 that have been funded by the program for a comprehensive approach to enhancing biosecurity across the wean-to-harvest phases of swine production.

Priorities of the Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Research Program focus on site and transportation biosecurity in five targeted areas:

The research program reflects SHIC’s responsiveness to an identified swine health vulnerability and collaborative efforts to leverage producer checkoff funds to safeguard the health of the U.S. swine herd. Proactively enhancing wean-to-harvest biosecurity will help control the next emerging disease in the U.S. pork industry. All proposals submitted undergo a competitive review process by a task force of industry stakeholders with funding recommendations approved by the SHIC Board of Directors, FFAR and Pork Checkoff. Projects are reviewed for their value to pork producers and their ability to provide cost-effective biosecurity solutions on the farm.

Novel tools, technologies and approaches are needed to augment current biosecurity practices in the U.S. swine industry. Each of the two newly funded projects investigate new ways of thinking about wean-to-harvest biosecurity. First, a project led by Kettelkamp was awarded entitled “Investigating waterless decontamination and application potential in transportation biosecurity.” This project seeks to investigate the efficacy of a new waterless technology for the mobile application of heat and hydrogen peroxide to decontaminate porcine epidemic diarrhea virus in trailers and provide an alternative method for achieving necessary transport sanitation.

Second, a project led by Havas was awarded entitled “What is the cost of disease for grow-finish producers?” This project seeks to understand the cost of common diseases detected in grow-finish hogs through quantification of disease outcome indicators, such as mortality and weight gain. Costs of disease will be compared to costs required for implementation of different biosecurity practices to provide producers an objective understanding of the potential opportunity cost forfeited through poor biosecurity.

The Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Program continues to accept research proposal submissions which address the five targeted priority areas until funds have been expended. Total project funds available for the program since its inception are $2.3 million. Real-time results of all projects will be shared as quickly as they become available for producers to implement knowledge gained on the farm.