The Secure Pork Supply Plan

Kylie Giesler | Ag Marketing Intern



The Secure Pork Supply (SPS) is a plan that would ensure that business would continue for U.S. pork producers and the allied industry. Secure Pork Supply Plan has been developed around the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s response strategy for African swine fever. The plan provides opportunities for pork producers through premise identification, enhanced biosecurity implementation, surveillance and sample collection, and movement monitoring to voluntarily prepare before an African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreak.

Biosecurity is a key component of the Secure Pork Supply Plan designed to provide business continuity in the event of a foreign animal disease outbreak as well as help protect operations from endemic diseases. Core biosecurity recommendations outlined in the SPS Plan are a written site-specific biosecurity plan and implementation of a perimeter buffer area and a line of separation. To-date, no benchmarking of SPS Plan biosecurity implementation has been done. The complexities of biosecurity adoption are vitally important to both educators and policy makers.

This month, Superior Ag and Warrick Vet Clinic (WVC), co-sponsored a SPS lunch and learn with the Indiana State Board of Animal Health (IN BOAH).

IN BOAH encourages all swine producers to participate in Securing Indiana’s Pork Supply. The SPS plan is an initiative that provides opportunities for producers to voluntarily prepare and protect their pork operation.

At the meeting, IN BOAH presented a 10-step preparedness plan and process that producers will follow in the event of a foreign disease outbreak in Indiana. Producers learned how IN BOAH will respond to an outbreak and what expectations are for their individual operations. Superior Ag and WVC plan to continually assist producers with SPS and this meeting was the first step for this initiative.

For more information on Securing Indiana’s Pork Supply visit:  https://www.in.gov/boah/2857.htm.