The pork industry is always looking for ways to be more efficient. This is why the Pork Board has several programs in place to steer the industry in the right direction.
The first is the PQA+ Program, which was designed to educate pork producers across the United States. They also have the Common Swine Industry Audit that works to address animal welfare and farm-food safety.
Leaders at the Pork Board say these two programs work hand-in-hand.
“Both of these programs are going to review the farm’s animals, the records, the facilities, and even interview the caretakers to assess their understanding of the protocols. So, the process to prepare a farm for either the assessment or the audit is going to be very similar, and oftentimes the PQA Plus site assessment is used to prepare a farm for an upcoming Common Swine Industry Audit. The PQA Plus site assessment and the Common Swine Industry Audit are often confused with each other because they both address these on-farm production practices, but each program has different goals,” said Stephanie Wetter.
Researchers are tracing improvements within the swine industry. Economists at the University of Illinois have found pigs per litter have increased a little more than a percent each year since 1994. They say any improvement will help the U.S. swine industry remain competitive.
