This year was the first time Tom Vilsack visited World Pork Expo as Secretary of Agriculture and he did so to announce federal actions to help combat porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv) and porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV).

First of all, Vilsack says there is now a Federal Order requiring the reporting of new detections of these viruses to its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) or State animal health officials. “This does not involve a restriction of movement, it does not involve quarantine, but it does involve the need for reporting, a monitoring plan and a management plan,” he said.

In addition, Vilsack announced $26.2 million in funding to be used for a variety of activities to support producers and combat these diseases, including more than $11 million in cost-share funding for producers of infected herds to support biosecurity practices and nearly $4 million for the development of vaccines. Vilsack at World Pork Expo

“We’re hopeful the USDA plan will work,” said National Pork Producers Council President Dr. Howard Hill after the announcement was made. “We still need to see the fine details of the program, but if USDA can focus a lot of the plan on researching and testing this devastating disease and on helping producers enhance their biosecurity, that would go a long way to helping us know how to control and to prevent the virus.”

2014 World Pork Expo photo album.