(Radio Iowa) – Pork industry leaders say the final round of testing in central Iowa for pseudorabies is expected to wrap up soon. The U-S-D-A confirmed in late April that five boars shipped from Texas to Iowa had the disease, making it the first known case in commercial swine in the U-S since 2004. Iowa Pork Producers Association C-E-O Pat McGonegle says Iowa’s department of ag, U-S-D-A and industry leaders acted quickly to prevent the spread of the virus while balancing the needs of producers and export markets.
“We’re going to sit down and learn and look at how we do this better. It was for producers, particularly those that were in the five-mile circle, it was an early opportunity to look like what a foreign animal disease outbreak might look like,” he says. Speaking at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines he says producers are optimistic about consumer demand for pork. McGonegle also says producers still face a slew of challenges and many are still recovering from record losses a few years ago.
“Profits are modest, but what I hear from producers is we have not filled the hole that we created in 23 and 24 and so it’s going to take a little bit of time of profitability to kind of equalize things,” he says. The National Pork Producers Council says passing the House version of the Farm Bill in the Senate and renewing the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement would benefit producers’ profits.
(By Rachel Cramer, Iowa Public Radio)
