The USDA National Pork Producers Delegate Body is proposing to decrease the current Pork Checkoff assessment rate of 40 cents per $100 of the market value of all pigs sold in the U.S. to 35 cents. 

• The idea is to also decrease assessments on imported pork and pork products to make sure imported and domestic products receive equal treatment.

The proposition reflects the Delegate Body's desire to adjust the assessment for producers, which is annually established by a formula based on U.S. ma...

The image of a flying pig may be a little fanciful, but it makes sense when you see that the forecast is that pork production in China will be up 9.1%, while in the rest of the world it will be down 2%. The reason for the increase in imports in the U.S. is more pork from each of the major suppliers; the reason for the decline in exports is due to less U.S. pork being shipped to every major buyer.

• The USDA's Foreign Agriculture Service predicts that world pork production will be up 2.9% in 202...

No matter what part of the swine industry you are a part of, you are ultimately working towards the same goal as everyone else - to produce pork that the consumers want to buy. But what exactly do the consumers want to buy? In this episode with Dr. Marissa Hake, we work towards answering that question and learning how to build trust with the consumers so we can all work together to produce a product everyone wants.

What you will learn:

1. How consumers are changing

2. Building trust wi...

We all know that PRRSV has been a big concern shared by many swine producers and veterinarians across the US. It is therefore important to determine effectively the PRRSV status of the pig population, especially at weaning age. In today's episode, I talk with Dr. Onyekachukwu Henry Osemeke about how family oral fluids (FOFs) can be used to determine PRRSV status of weaning age pigs.

Meet the guest:

Dr. Onyekachukwu Henry Osemeke obtained his DVM in 2014 from Ahmadu Bello University, Zari...

A Russian, a Brazilian and a Chilean pig walk into a bar… Bad joke? The situation in Russia with pork imports and the national production is bad, too. The country is in for a problem of oversupply in the pork market.

• African Swine Fever (ASF) and avian influenza (AI) outbreaks in Russia have made things difficult for the meat production in the country and sent prices to the stratosphere, so the government has set a duty-free quota over pork imports to try and compensate for that on the domest...

Is that so? Well, according to some Agricultural groups and House legislators, it is! And they’re urging the approval of the Farm Workforce Modernization Act.

• Now what's that? Simply enough, it’s a House-approved bill for immigrant agricultural workers in the U.S. to earn legal status through continued agricultural employment and contribution to the American agricultural economy.
• And how’s that a salvation? It gives flexibility to employers and critical protection to workers, so it ends up e
...

The porcine circovirus Type 2 has been increasingly detected in the U.S. and captured the attention of the Swine Health Information Center.

• SHIC Associate Director Dr. Megan Niederwerder says this rise needs to be on everyone’s radar.
• The increase is evident specifically in the wean-to-market population.

This could all be tied to reactions to vaccines, a new genotype of the virus, and/or a more virulent strain.