DES MOINES, IOWA — The National Pork Board (NPB) announced on Nov. 10 that it started AgView, a website tool for the US pork industry to share information when it comes to a foreign animal disease (FAD) outbreak.

Participating producers can communicate and share their farm’s FAD updates and pig movement data with state animal health officials. The technology is a no-fee technology and funded by the Pork Checkoff. The tool will allow for contact tracing of infected animals and help contain or regionalize potential outbreaks.

“When pork producers adopt AgView, they are not only helping protect their farms, but also the entire industry,” said Bill Even, chief executive officer of the NPB. “COVID taught us the best way to quickly contain and recover from a significant supply chain disruption, which an FAD outbreak would be, is through real-time information, collaboration and a common data set to inform decision making.”

According to a recent study from Iowa State University, an outbreak African swine fever (ASF) in the United States could cost the pork industry $50 billion over 10 years.

The NPB said sharing this data would go a long way in assisting an effective FAD response and help the industry quickly contain outbreaks.

“While local and state reporting protocols already are in place, there is no nationwide repository for this data and no mechanism for real-time sharing,” said Dave Pyburn, NPB’s chief veterinarian. “Time is money in an FAD response, which is why we’re excited to have AgView to help fill that gap and facilitate a quicker return to business for producers, especially in our export markets.”

As a single software platform, AgView, allows for the rapid and accurate visualization of pig movement data. The system can integrate with many existing record-keeping systems for synchronization.