Indiana hog farmers boost biosecurity measures on H1N1 fears

Indiana hog farmers are stepping up health protection measures and bracing for the impact of swine flu on an already struggling industry.

Purdue University agricultural economist Chris Hurt said Indiana hog farmers have been losing money every quarter for the last year and a half, and it has worsened since the influenza A/H1N1 scare.

Hurt estimated Indiana hog producers were losing about US$5 a head on April 24, adding that the number is now US$20.

He also estimated that in the week after the influenza A/H1N1 outbreak, the US pork industry lost about US$30 million.

He expected prices farmers received at the market to bounce back this week despite assurances by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) that pork was safe to consume.

He suspects that news on the flu virus transmitted to pigs in Canada shook consumer and market confidence.

In Alberta, Canada, officials quarantined about 220 pigs infected by a worker who recently returned from Mexico - the first documented case of A/H1N1 virus being passed from a human to another species.

Indiana Pork Producers Association executive director Mike Platt said the outbreak has generated fears both in domestic as well as export marketplace, adding that the industry itself has taken a significant hit economically which is certainly unfortunate as there is no transmission of the virus in any food products.