Better PED defence for Alberta’s swine industry
Posted Apr 24, 2014 11:30 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
As a serious and often deadly pig virus slowly tracks toward western Canada, the government is throwing cash at the swine industry to help battle threats like Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED) virus.
Verlyn Olson, minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said $1.35-million is going to Albert Pork to help producer’s maintain healthy herds.
He said the money comes from the Growing Forward 2 initiative to focus on shoring up biosecurity.
“That’s an agreement with he federal government which allows us to plan and fund strategic initiatives to support our agriculture industries and make them competitive and sustainable,” he said.
The money will help with projects like risk assessment, training veterinarians, and educating producers.
Alberta has yet to see a confirmed case of PED but the virus has been tracked in four provinces.
Ontario has seen the most number of cases with about two to seven being reported each week since January.
The virus was first detected as far west as Manitoba in February.
While PED is responsible for thousands of pig deaths in the United States, it has only recently surfaced in Canada.
It is not considered a threat to food sources but can be severe and fatal to piglets and young pigs.
