The Swine it Podcast Show Canada - #02: Better safe than sorry: how are we doing when it comes to animal disease outbreak preparedness?

We all know how hard it is to fight back when a disease outbreak occurs. Since emergency events present themselves at different levels and involve varied approaches, knowing how to best manage them is crucial not only for swine producers, but for the entire Canadian industry. However vital they may be, animal disease outbreak preparedness and responses are often overlooked, as they are not generally a part of farmers’ daily routine. Nonetheless, it is very critical to have measures in place for when they are needed – it's like with health insurance: you don't really need it, until you do! To dig into that quite interesting topic, we invited Todd Bergen-Henengouwe, who has been involved with the Animal Health Emergency Management (AHEM) Project for the last four years. In this episode, we ask him the same question that is probably on your mind right now: are we fully prepared to protect ourselves from animal disease outbreaks?

What you’ll learn:

    ○ How pork consumers are receiving new technologies

    ○ Evaluating consumer feelings and opinions

    ○ Survey interpretation

    ○ Regional differences in public opinions

    ○ Communicating with consumers

    ○ Technologies on the pig farm

Meet the guest:  

Dr. Ellen Goddard

Experience: 

    ○ Current: Professor at the University of Alberta.

    ○ Past: Assistant and Associate Professor at the University of Guelph; National Australia Bank Chair in Agribusiness and Associate Dean at University of Melbourne.

Background:

    ○ Ph.D., Agricultural Economics (LaTrobe University)

    ○ M.Sc., Agricultural Economics (University of Guelph)

    ○ B.Sc., Agricultural Economics (University of Guelph)

Hobby: Refinishing furniture.

Favorite Series: I have just rewatched the series Cagney and Lacey and had forgotten how unusual it was for its time – with its female cop leads. It’s nice to see that the world has moved on somewhat.

Tip for success: Be sure not to focus on the things that don't go well, but reward yourself for the things that do.

Connect with our guest on Social Media: LinkedIn