AgView: Path to Protection

AgView is a new software-based technology solution that will provide near real-time health and movement status to help the U.S. pork industry to rapidly conduct contact-tracing to contain or regionalize a foreign animal disease outbreak such as African swine fever. Likewise, it can help facilitate pig movement among its users during such outbreaks to help achieve business continuity.

For the U.S. pork industry, AgView is a path to protection for America’s pig farms that will help cut through the fog of war in the event of a crisis.

In the event of a FAD outbreak like ASF, AgView can provide real-time data from producers to state veterinarians and others (if allowed) to help the industry with a faster, more effective response aimed at disease containment, regionalization and business continuity.

In the event of an ASF outbreak, state veterinarians need to know and communicate a lot of important data that can be requested in a standardized format from the AgView app, including:

• Where the pigs are located and the size and types of farms state vets are dealing with
• Magnitude of animal movements and more importantly, positive traces
• Lab results from ASF testing (pre and post-outbreak)
• Compliance with Secure Pork Supply plans
• Verification of criteria needed for permitting movements

An outbreak of a foreign animal disease, like ASF, would be a devastating blow for pork industry. The impact would be catastrophic on the entire supply chain — from grain farmers and pig farmers, to packers and processors — the industry would not recover quickly.

Just as COVID-19 ravaged the pork industry, leading to billions of dollars in losses for America’s pig farmers, the threat of ASF or another foreign animal disease is far worse. If we learned anything from COVID-19, it’s that we can’t afford to be caught off guard again.

According to a 2020 study completed by economists at Iowa State University, the economic impact of a hypothetical African swine fever (ASF) outbreak could:

• Amount to $8 billion in lost revenue ($61.59 per head) if ASF is controlled and exports return within one year
• Cost the pork industry more than $50 billion over 10 years
• Mean a difference of $15 billion in losses for the industry in a scenario where ASF is controlled in two years, as opposed to $50 billion in losses if controlled in 10 years
• Lead to the loss of 140,000 jobs in the U.S.
• Cause hog prices to fall by 47% in the first year of the outbreak, with prices stabilizing to 1.8% lower
• Reduce long-term pork production by almost 30% if ASF is not quickly contained

As a no-fee product offered by the National Pork Board, AgView can be used by all pork producers and state veterinarians in the United States AgView is designed to help the pork industry be more prepared for a foreign animal disease, so for it to be most successful, adoption by as many producers and state veterinarians will be critical.

All U.S. pork producers will benefit from integrating AgView into their farming operations. AgView is for all pork producers; it does not matter how large the farm is, how many pigs the farm has, the type of pig that is raised at the farm or the business goals of the operation.

For the most part, producers have premises identification numbers and robust movement records that can facilitate rapid contact tracing should ASF occur here. In the event of an FAD outbreak, information that producers have put into the AgView application in peace time (which may be easily imported from many popular record-keeping systems) will help state veterinarians quickly react in the event of an FAD. Information that can be inputted into AgView includes:

• Site information (premises identification numbers (PINs), type of farm, number of pigs)
• Animal movements, both in-state and out-of-state
• Lab results from participating labs

Yes. AgView is most effective if all pork producers and state animal health officials adopt it and provide up-to-date site, animal movement and health data. Broad use of AgView is essential for the best protection of the pork industry from the negative impact of an FAD such as African swine fever.

AgView can help state health officials contain a foreign animal disease faster and prove where a foreign animal disease is or isn’t in the U.S., allowing the pork industry access to export markets sooner. On the farm level, pork producers who have real-time data in the AgView system will make foreign animal disease investigations quicker and easier for state health officials to carry out contact tracing when investigating sites. By providing data that is accurate, real-time and standardized in AgView, state health officials may be able to investigate a possible foreign animal disease faster, allowing a pork producer to move pigs more quick

AgView is supported by the National Pork Board and funded by the Pork Checkoff.