U.S. SHIP building a stronger swine industry

Recently, a group of producers, veterinarians, industry leaders and state and federal animal health officials met in Bloomington, Minnesota, for the 2025 U.S. Swine Health Improvement Plan House of Delegates annual meeting to discuss how to shape the future of the pork industry.

Focus on biosecurity, traceability and surveillance

U.S. SHIP is continuing to serve as a grassroots approach for the pork industry to address the threat of foreign animal and endemic diseases. Now in its sixth year, the program serves as a voluntary certification process for both foreign and endemic diseases of concern to pork producers. U.S. SHIP recently transitioned to a program administered by the USDA, providing the pork industry with a clear framework to improve herd health nationwide through site health status certification.

National Pork Board plays a supporting role in U.S. SHIP by providing funding, education, outreach and opportunities for producers to discuss critical issues such as biosecurity, traceability and surveillance. The program standards for U.S. SHIP include the use of complementary programs and tools supported by the Pork Checkoff including Secure Pork Supply, a business continuity plan for farms to increase their foreign animal disease preparedness, Certified Swine Sampler Collector Program for sampling outside of control areas, and AgView®, the traceability platform for the industry, U.S. SHIP participants and site certification by the Official State Agencies.

Veterinarians from NPB’s swine health team serve as subject matter experts and will continue to provide thought leadership for producers as health initiatives evolve.

Impact on day-to-day operations
NPB continues to engage with producers to understand swine health challenges and potential strategies to improve swine health. A core goal of the U.S. SHIP program is to maintain business continuity for producers in the face of an outbreak of African swine fever virus or classical swine fever virus.

“If the United States incurs an FAD outbreak, my sincere hope is that the program will be effective in helping achieve that goal of business continuity for producers, which would be a huge positive impact for the entire swine industry,” said Michelle Sprague, producer, veterinarian and partner at AMVC Management Services.