Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Monday that the USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) has confirmed the presence of 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza virus in a pig sample collected at the Minnesota State Fair submitted by the University of Minnesota. Additional samples are being tested.
“We have fully engaged our trading partners to remind them that several international organizations, including the World Organization for Animal Health, have advised that there is no scientific basis to restrict trade in pork and pork products,” said Vilsack. “People cannot get this flu from eating pork or pork products. Pork is safe to eat.”
The infection of the fair pig does not suggest infection of commercial herds because show pigs and commercially raised pigs are in separate segments of the swine industry that do not typically interchange personnel or animal stock, according to the USDA.
But the USDA also continues to remind U.S. swine producers about the need for good hygiene, biosecurity and other practices that will prevent the introduction and spread of influenza viruses in their herd and encourage them to participate in USDA’s swine influenza virus surveillance program.
In related news, Sec. Vilsack on Tuesday will receive a letter with 25,000 signatures asking the USDA a simple question of why are you continuing to finance big hog operations, while at the same time subsizing the industry because of over production.
The farm groups are concern that government loans are encouraging over production, which leads to lower prices, which leads to government bailouts.
On Tuesday, the Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment (CFFE) will be delivering a letter with 25,000 signatures to Vilsack calling for a suspension of Farm Service Agency direct and guaranteed loans to new and expanding specialized hog and poultry facilities.
According to CFFE, hog and poultry prices are at historic lows and oversupply circumstances in these sectors is a leading cause to this crisis. Despite the current overproduction situation and subsequent oversupply in the hog and poultry sectors, FSA loans are continuing to be made for specialized hog and poultry facilities, which necessarily increase production, depress prices and lead to further consolidation in markets.
Based on USDA data, FSA direct and guaranteed loans for new hog and poultry building construction for FY 2008 and 2009 totaled $264,466,341, according to CFFE.
In the last seven months, CFFE said USDA has used $55 million in taxpayers money to purchase overproduced pork from the market whicl continue to guarantee loans with tax payers money to build new production facilities. CFFE said that the cycle of promoting the expansion of corporate livestock production with taxpayers money, then bailing them out because of over production with tax payers money needs to come to an end.
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