Page 598 of articles about news in Swine news

This report provides an overview of production costs and margins of farms specialised in pig fattening. The analysis is based on the latest Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data available (2006).

According to reports from Mexico’s Ministry for Agriculture (SAGARPA), the consumption of pig meat is recovering from the noticeable drop a few weeks ago after the appearance of cases of the new flu A in humans in the country. The figures offered by SAGARPA show that since last weekend the levels of slaughter in the 33 Federal Inspection Type (TIF) slaughterhouses, specializing in pigs, have reached 80% of the level that they had before the outbreak of the new flu A. According to the Secretary for Agriculture, Alberto Cárdenas Jiménez, by the end of the month the number of pigs slaughtered in TIF slaughterhouses and in the 38 large sized municipal slaughterhouses is expected to reach over 470 thousand. (Original in Spanish. Read Google translation here).

Action is needed to improve communication about the qualities of agricultural products — to help reconnect farmers with consumers. Quality labelling schemes must also be easier for people to use and understand and EU policy must be more coherent. These are the main recommendations of a European Commission Communication on agricultural product quality policy.

Federal Agency for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision of the Russian Federation (Rosselkhoznadzor) is imposing temporary restrictions on supply of non heat treated pork and pork products from some Prefectures of Japan, as it was published on the Agency’s website.

It is looking almost certain Brussels will drop plans to extend IPPC to more pig farms.

The impact of climate change on the emergence and re-emergence of animal diseases has been confirmed by a majority of OIE Member Countries and Territories in a worldwide study conducted by the OIE among all its national Delegates.

A new category of fats in mammalian cells discovered by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and colleagues may help explain how a harmful toxin called fumonisin causes disease in farm animals.

Asia's US pork imports showed mixed performance in the first quarter of this year, with Taiwan and the Asean region showing remarkable growth while China/Hong Kong brought in smaller volumes and Japan slowed down on buying in March. Taiwan’s imports of US pork plus pork variety meat in the first quarter increased 158% in volume and 121% in value term over the same period a year ago. Imports by Asean countries increased 56% in volume and 58% in value. Japan’s imports in the first quarter escalated 13% in volume and 26% in value, but performance in March rose only 1% in value but dropped 3.5% in volume over the same month last year. China/Hong Kong's imports dipped 36% over the first quarter of 2008.

The newly elected committee of the Pig Producers Association, headed by Flip de Villiers, will work towarads expanding pig farming in Namibia to meet the current demand.

On February 18, 2009, the Secretariat of Economy (SE) published in the Diario Oficial (Federal Register) on official notice terminating the panel charged with performing a review of the preliminary antidumping investigation on pork leg imports from the Unites States. On January 7, 2009, the panel issued its Notice of Final Action, which agreed with the initial antidumping investigation that no further action should be taken.

President Barrack Obama last week signed legislation that is designed to help more farmers and ranchers restructure their loans versus being forced into foreclosure. According to Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) who introduced amendments to the 'Helping Families Save Their Homes Act.' This new action will require government agencies to make sure that banks use their TARP funds to help farmers in need of financial assistance.

The present system for monitoring and tracing Irish pork products is ineffective and significant changes are required in order to avoid a repeat of the total recall of Irish pork products which has resulted in a cost of millions of euro in compensation payments to the Irish taxpayer. This is one of the findings of the report published today, by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

In order to ensure the eradication of FMD virus, Chinese Taipei uses non-vaccinated pigs as sentinel animals on every farm. During the routine active surveillance in the livestock market, a pig was found NSP antibody positive. The prefecture animal disease control competent authority traced back to the original farm. The result of clinical investigation showed that all pigs on farm were healthy. Samples for serological tests and virus isolation were collected and sent to the National Laboratory. The laboratory confirmed positive results for NSP and negative for virus isolation. A total of 57 farms within 3-km-radius of the index farm have been under vigilant monitoring and no clinical or serological evidence of infection has been found.

The OIE has informed about the presence of foot-and-mouth virus serotype A in Guangxi and Guizhou provinces.

The genetic programme for the organic pig production sector that is most beneficial in the short term is a rotational crossbreeding structure with purebred and terminal AI boars that are specifically selected for organic pig production. The Animal Breeding and Genomics Centre (ABGC) and the Institute for Pig Genetics (IPG) made this recommendation after analysing data from organic pig farms and evaluating lines and genetic programmes in a bio-economic and a genetic model.

Responding to President Obama's directive to upgrade the nation's food safety system, the White House Food Safety Working Group, launched a website to provide information about the group's activities and progress.