Adoption of Secure Pork Supply Plan Biosecurity by U.S. Swine Producers.

Christopher C. Pudenz,Lee L. Schulz,Glynn T. Tonsor

doi:10.3389/fvets.2019.00146

Christopher C. Pudenz, Lee L. Schulz + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2019.00146

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Abstract

There is mounting concern about the negative animal health and supply chain consequences of animal disease outbreaks in the United States. Recent disease outbreaks have drawn attention to the need for additional understanding of biosecurity efforts to reduce disease frequency, spread, and impact. Biosecurity is a key component of the Secure Pork Supply (SPS) Plan designed to provide business continuity in the event of a foreign animal disease outbreak as well as help protect operations from endemic diseases. Core biosecurity recommendations outlined in the SPS Plan are a written site-specific biosecurity plan and implementation of a perimeter buffer area and a line of separation. To-date, no benchmarking of SPS Plan biosecurity implementation has been done. Utilizing data from a 2017 survey of U.S. swine producers, this study shows that SPS Plan biosecurity adoption varies and is affected by how feasible producers believe implementation of each biosecurity practice is on their operation. Furthermore, binomial logit regression analyses indicate producer and operation demographics and producer risk attitudes and perceptions affect biosecurity adoption. Conditional probabilities reveal that adoption of biosecurity practices is overwhelmingly complementary, suggesting that one biosecurity practice likely increases marginal efficacy of another biosecurity practice. The insights this study provides regarding the complexities of biosecurity adoption are vitally important to both educators and policy makers.

Highlights

African swine fever (ASF), classical swine fever (CSF), and foot and mouth disease (FMD) are highly contagious transboundary animal diseases
A questionnaire developed by researchers and extension professionals and administered by the Iowa State University Center for Survey Statistics and Methodology was used in collecting information from swine producers in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wisconsin
Given that biosecurity adoption in the past in the United States has largely been precautionary and voluntary, this study provides key insights into the very complex and ever-changing issue of biosecurity adoption

Summary

Introduction

African swine fever (ASF), classical swine fever (CSF), and foot and mouth disease (FMD) are highly contagious transboundary animal diseases. If ASF, CSF, or FMD were confirmed in the United States, response strategies for controlling and stopping the spread of these animal diseases would likely be far-reaching. The United States is a significant producer and consumer of pork and pork products, and any event that would interrupt exports, imports, or movement of animals within the country would have serious economic consequences. Of the approximately 171.4 million hogs and pigs marketed in the United States in 2017, 55.2 million were shipped across state lines for feeding or breeding purposes [3] With this being the case, any factor that might restrict exports, imports, and stateto-state shipments would have serious economic implications for producers and the broader economy. It is important to identify, prior to an outbreak, potential procedures and plans that may mitigate the consequences and maintain continuity of business by reestablishing movements and trade as quickly as possible

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