Farmscape for September 22, 2022

The Veterinary Counselor for the Canadian Pork Council suggests Canadian and U.S. coordination and cooperation will be critical during an animal health emergency.
"Cross-Border Livestock Health and U.S. Canada Coordination in an Animal Health Emergency" were discussed as part of the 2022 Pacific NorthWest Economic Region Summit in Calgary.
Dr Egan Brockhoff, the Veterinary Counselor for the Canadian Pork Council and member of the Swine Innovation Porc Coordinated African Swine Fever Research Working Group, says Canada and the U.S. both have well organized science driven federal veterinary authorities that are well respected

Clip-Dr Egan Brockhoff-Canadian Pork Council:
There are always opportunities to potentially simplify or streamline.
That can be done through training, that can be done through tabletop exercises and practice, introducing new technologies to the space to simplify movement control documents, so on and so forth.
As we look around the world we continue to see viruses like Foot and Mouth Disease virus move, we continue to see viruses like African Swine Fever virus move, we now have African Swine Fever in the Caribbean.
How do we protect our North American herd from some of these viruses.
To do that we have to have to have measures in place to mitigate health risks, so control measures for imports, so on and so forth.
These are critical steps.
I think, as we look at the efforts both of our countries have done to keeping disease out, we've done a good job.
Now we just need to continue to practice and rehearse and make sure our traceability systems, our surveillance systems for disease and our biosecurity protocols are strong enough to not just protect the country but also to protect the individual herds.

Dr. Brockhoff says we need mechanisms in place that allow for animal movement with good science guiding us.
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Bruce Cochrane.

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