The highly contagious African swine fever, rampant in China, has never been found in the United States, but the USDA said on Thursday that it will step up its surveillance efforts against the viral disease, which kills pigs but does not harm people. Agriculture Undersecretary Greg Ibach said the USDA will check for African swine fever at the same time it tests for classical swine fever in sick or dead hogs.
Ibach said the enhanced surveillance program “will serve as an early warning system, helping us find any potential disease much more quickly,” and, in the event of an outbreak, allow a speedy response to eradicate it. The USDA said the tests, which will be done in cooperation with state agencies, would begin within weeks and be fully implemented over the remainder of spring.
Classical swine fever, also called hog cholera, is a contagious and often fatal disease of hogs. It was first identified in the early 1800s in the United States. Both diseases cause high temperatures, vomiting, and diarrhea in hogs, and both can cause epidemics. Chinese officials say the country’s hog herd is 20 percent smaller than it was a year ago.
The African swine fever epidemic is expected to reduce worldwide demand for soybeans. The chief executive of Bunge, a major agricultural exporter and processor, said the impact on feed prices and soybean flows will likely be felt for several years, reported AgriCensus. The executive, Gregory Hackman, said more soybeans would be sent to processing plants, such as Bunge’s, and fewer would be shipped in bulk. There’s a larger margin in crushing beans, to make soy oil and soy meal, than in shipping them, he said. “We would always rather crush a bean than move it.”