Farmscape for December 28, 2023

The retiring Executive Director of the Swine Health Information Center is applauding the organization's success.
In 2015, in an effort to respond to emerging disease threats such as the 2013 incursion of PED into the U.S., 15 million dollars was allocated to form the Swine Health Information Center.
At the end of this year Dr. Paul Sundberg, SHIC's founding Executive Director will be replaced by current Associate Director Dr. Megan Niederwerder as he moves into retirement.
He recalls in 2021 an effort was made to evaluate the value of the organization.

Quote-Dr. Paul Sundberg-Swine Health Information Center:
When SHIC was formed in 2015 it was really an experiment by the National Pork Board and the National Pork Board's Board of Directors.
We had had never tried anything like this before and we didn't know if it would work.
So, six or seven years later we did a full review of the return on investment of that first 15 million dollars worth of money that was put into the program of SHIC with the idea that we would get five to seven years of work out of that.
We went back and did that full review, developed a report that showed that there was a return on this investment.
There's been a lot of progress that has been made since 2015.
The National Pork Board at that time in 2021 decided that that progress and that return on investment was worth another 15 million dollars to keep going.
We're very glad that that happened and very appreciative that that happened.
As I talk to producers, I talk to veterinarians, I talk to researchers and allied industries and state and federal animal health officials, the Swine Health Information Center's name has become widely known and we certainly appreciate all the support and all of the input that we've been able to get throughout the years.

Further information on the Swine Health Information Center, its work and its resources can be found at swinehealth.org.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers