The federal government announced Monday that it will spend up to $567.16 on measures to keep African Swine Fever out of Canada.
It has devastated the hog industry in China, has spread through Europe’s wild boar population and has shown up in the Dominican Republic.
If it arrives in Canada, hog and pork exports would be stopped in their tracks. About 70 per cent are exported.
Pork farmer leaders have asked the government for greater clarity on compensation if the disease ever breaks out here.
“Farmers need to know they have cash to be able to continue to feed the pigs, to be able to pay their staff, to be able to purchase feed, so on and so forth,” the Canadian Pork Council’s veterinary counsellor, Dr. Egan Brockhoff, said after one ASF readiness test last year.
The federal government offer is conditional on achieving agreements with the provinces and territories on a 60-40 funding split.
Canada has a partnership program called African Swine Fever Preparedness Program.
