Biosecurity has been a strong focus for Pork SA throughout 2021 and will remain so for the foreseeable future, particularly given the threat posed by African Swine Fever.
Three biosecurity initiatives were announced by Pork SA in the past year with a strong focus on safeguarding the pork supply chain.
They included a contribution to the $1 million upgrade at the SA Artificial Breeding Centre, truck wash and decontamination facilities installed at Seven Point Pork's (JBS) Port Wakefield and Big River Pork's Murray Bridge abattoirs and the announcement of a new biosecurity officer for the SA pig industry.
Significant progress on these initiatives is set to be made in 2022, with the new abattoir facilities to be installed throughout the year and biosecurity officer Chelsea Dossett to embark on a biosecurity survey.
This survey will help benchmark farm preparedness to prevent farm infection and manage in response to an outbreak.
It will identify key gaps where further projects can assist producer uptake of biosecurity measures.
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Primary Industries and Regional Development Minister David Basham said the recently-announced biosecurity initiatives all had joint investment, which demonstrated the strong partnership between SA's pig industry and the SA government.
"The SA government is a strong supporter of SA's pork industry, which is a key driver for our state economy - with the primary industries and agribusiness revenue of pork worth $408 million a year," he said.
"Pork SA has used the producer levy from the Primary Industry Funding Scheme to leverage a matching government contribution on these projects, and abattoirs have also committed significant funding."
Pork SA Chair and Tintinara pork producer Andrew Johnson said while farm biosecurity was critical, protecting the supply chain through its own strong biosecurity measures was as important.
"By protecting supply chain biosecurity, we can ensure secondary spread of devastating diseases, such as ASF, is prevented and escalation of the emergency animal disease outbreak is avoided," he said.
"We can also assure the safe supply of disease-free pigs for slaughter that will be demanded by officials and abattoirs alike.
"This minimises the likelihood of having to hold pigs on-farm, as herds with demonstrated strong biosecurity will have a better likelihood of getting movement permits.
"It protects our abattoirs which, if closed due to contamination, has adverse implications for the wider industry."
- Details: Pork SA, porksa.com.au
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