The Canadian Swine Health Board says pork industry stakeholders are expressing a willingness to provide financial support to help maintain initiatives undertaken to help protect the Canadian swine herd from the risk of disease.
In 2007 in response to a circovirus outbreak, Ottawa allocated funding to help with vaccination and to establish a body to develop strategies to address future diseases issues.
The Canadian Swine Health Board has since coordinated developing a National Biosecurity Standard for hog farms and a training program based on that standard, funded research and created a national swine health surveillance network.
Canadian Swine Health Board Chair Florian Possberg says, with the funding agreement due to expire at the end of March, Ottawa has indicated industry will need to step up.
To date a lot of the work that the Canadian Swine Health Board has done has been funded by the federal government support.
They’re saying it’s time for industry to step up to the plate and help fund the initiatives going forward and that’s happening.
All of our provinces now have agreed to a check-off that will go to fund specifically the work of the Canadian Swine Health Board.
We have other industry groups that have indicated they’re willing to support and they will help fund our work with real money.
We think we can get, between producers and industry, upwards of a million dollars annually to support the continued work of the Canadian Swine Health Board.
Possberg notes the board has requested federal funds from 2011 to March 2013 be re-profiled into 2013 to 2014, so not increasing the federal commitment but using funds already committed over a longer period.
