The Canadian Pork Council is calling on government to ensure swine health and disease prevention remain a priority under Canada’s next Agricultural Policy Framework.
Representatives of the Canadian Pork Council addressed the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food earlier this month to present the pork industry’s views on Canada’s next Agricultural Policy Framework.
Hans Kristensen, the Maritime representative on the CPC’s Board of Directors, told the committee disease prevention remains a focus for the pork industry and initiatives like traceability, biosecurity and disease surveillance need to be a priority in the next agricultural policy framework.
Work conducted by the Canadian Swine Health Board since 2009 has provided the industry with significant benefits in the area of biosecurity and raised the awareness of the importance of swine health industry wide, including at a producer level. However, as with anything, more work could be done.
The pork industry and government need to work on preparedness to be primed for the next health challenge. In the event of the next emerging disease situation the pork industry needs to have the resources and a plan to ensure the industry is prepared and has the tools to improve swine health management, non-regulatory disease responses in collaboration with government.
Failure to manage the animal health risk compromises the welfare of our animals and of our operations. It also jeopardizes our ability to address the food security needs of our domestic and export markets. Health of our animals, our ability to respond to challenges is a big trademark that we have world wide. The better handle we have on that, the better food security and animal health we have, the better able we are going to be to sell these products world wide.
~ Hans Kristensen, Canadian Pork Council
Kristensen says the Canadian pork industry remains focused on disease prevention in the areas of biosecurity coordination, communication, preparedness and surveillance and requires government investment in partnership with producers to create a national sustainable model for animal health risk management.
