Canada’s Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Lawrence MacAulay has announced a commitment of up to $567.16 million to support hog producers should there be a closure of key export markets for Canadian pork products and live pigs due to an African swine fever (ASF) outbreak in Canada or the United States.
While Canada remains free of ASF, a single detection of ASF in Canada would close export markets due to international trade regulations and import restrictions imposed by trading partners. Canada is heavily dependent on pork and live pig exports, and the closure of key export markets would be devastating to the pork sector. It would cause hog producers to incur extraordinary costs and force them to make difficult decisions about depopulating their herds.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada will work collaboratively with individual provinces and territories to develop agreements. Once agreements are signed, the overall commitment may increase to reflect 60-40 cost-shared funding with provincial and territorial partners.
This funding commitment is part of a larger overall effort. Other actions to prevent, prepare for and mitigate an ASF outbreak include:
- The African Swine Fever Industry Preparedness Program (ASFIPP) provided $15.5 million to 28 recipients for 44 projects to fund early detection efforts and an effective emergency response in case of an ASF outbreak.
- At ports of entry, additional measures have been implemented to prevent ASF from entering Canada, including more detector dog teams and the strategic allocation of Canada Border Services Agency officers to examine goods arriving from affected countries. There are also increased import control measures to prevent infected plant-based feed ingredients from ASF-affected countries from entering Canada and declared secondary control zones for plant-based feed ingredients at marine ports of entry.
- To reach travelers and small-scale producers, there are ongoing awareness campaigns.
- Canada is working closely with our North American partners and counterparts to harmonize testing protocols, share intelligence and take collective action from a pan-North American perspective.
- Canada is actively engaged in ASF research, with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA) National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease, working alongside countries where ASF is endemic to study new strains of the virus, while also collaborating with VIDO-InterVac, the United States Department of Agriculture, and private companies to develop and test vaccine candidates and antivirals for ASF.
- The CFIA has established zoning arrangements with the United States, the European Union, Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam, and they are pursuing arrangements with other trading partners.
- The government of Canada and PTs continue to engage with the sector on needs that would arise in the event of an ASF outbreak.
