Ontario Pork Pleased by Governments' PED Help

GUELPH, ON, Jan. 29, 2014 /CNW/ - Ontario Pork is pleased by the funding announcement made yesterday by the governments of Canada and Ontario to help the pork industry step up measures to manage the spread of the porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) virus.

The Premier and Minister of Agriculture and Food, Kathleen Wynne, told the pork industry on a PED telephone town hall that Ontario is providing $2 million to help Ontario Pork support industry-wide investments to improve biosecurity measures at critical points across the province, such as assembly yards, processing plants and truck washing stations. Biosecurity remains the best tool to protect swine herds.

The governments of Canada and Ontario have also created a special PED biosecurity program under Growing Forward 2 to help producers, abattoirs, truckers, assembly facilities, and rendering service providers in the pork industry invest in additional biosecurity measures to limit the spread of PED. This initiative is in addition to the existing Growing Forward 2 funding assistance program. Ontario will administer the fund, and applications will be accepted until March 13, 2014.

"This is fantastic news and speaks to the provincial government's ongoing commitment to our industry. These funds and the creation of a dedicated biosecurity stream under Growing Forward 2 will most certainly help us with some of the initiatives we've already started to help manage this disease," said Amy Cronin, Chair of Ontario Pork. 

Ontario Pork represents the 1,549 farmers who raise pigs in the province. The organization focuses on many areas, including research, government representation, environmental issues, consumer education and food quality assurance. The Ontario industry contributes $523 million in gross domestic product, $2.1 billion in economic output and 13,397 full-time job equivalents. Visit Ontario Pork's website: www.ontariopork.on.ca.

SOURCE: Ontario Pork

Mary Jane Quinn, Communications & Consumer Marketing Manager, Phone: [phone] x1303, Email: [email protected]