United States Philippine Partnership Expected to Contribute to Greater Control of Foreign Animal Disease

The President of the National Pork Producers Council is confident an international partnership involving the United States and the Philippines will contribute to greater control of foreign animal disease while providing safeguards to help keep American agriculture safe.

USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, the Philippine Department of Agriculture, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and the Universality of Minnesota have partnered to deliver a project which allows U.S. pork producers to collaborate with their counterparts in the Philippines who been hit hard by African Swine Fever.National Pork Producers Council President Terry Wolters says the program provides an opportunity for U.S. and Philippine pork producers and government officials to collaborate and cooperate.

Clip-Terry Wolters-National Pork Producers Council:

Early detection is critical to the U.S. swine industry.As we know we've got African Swine Fever in the western hemisphere for the first time since the 1970s.
It is top of mind for many producers.We are working diligently for prevention of and protection of the U.S. herd.

Hopefully we can lean through collaborating with the Philippine industry to develop some kind of testing protocols that will support early detection along with surveillance in the event something would happen.It really is a great opportunity for our research team to learn from their situation.

Along with that the programs that the USDA has administered with 500 million dollars being committed to ASF preparedness and prevention, it really does fit nicely with that program and really is an outlook that we can hopefully gain from and also protect our U.S. borders.

Wolters notes research involving African Swine Fever virus is not allowed in mainland United States so this partnership provides an opportunity for the U.S. to have an active presence in the Philippines.