With the rapid rise in global population, the need to feed billions has placed tremendous pressure on agriculture. Millions of hectares of forests have been cut in South America, Asia and Africa to accommodate the swift expansion of farmlands. Local governments and multinational food companies are collaborating to enhance the farm productivity. Over the past couple of decades, enormous efforts have been made by the policymakers to enhance investments in agricultural infrastructure.

Association of Ukrainian Pig Breeders  in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), have developed a standard operating procedure (SOP) to help employees of laboratories of agro-food markets to respond correctly and promptly in case of suspicion that live animals or livestock products are infected. In order to present and discuss the SOP directly with its implementers, a training was held for specialists of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection's epizootology departments and laboratory staff at agri-food markets. About 400 participants from all regions of Ukraine joined the online meeting.

Despite this year’s cool March, experts on Sunday warned that Pakistan and the rest of the region could be under threat from climate change-driven hazards, likely to have catastrophic effects on the country’s agriculture and living conditions.

Pork prices in China are expected to experience modest increases in the future, despite a week-on-week decline from July 3 to 9, experts said.

Jim Long Pork Commentary – July 17, 2023

In 2022, Egypt’s agricultural exports to Hungary surged by 124% YoY to €14 million

Among its many intricately interlinked challenges, Africa faces burgeoning cities and increasing numbers of rural mouths to feed. But these challenges are not insurmountable: With agriculture at the core of the continent’s economic transformation, Africa has the potential to become a global agricultural powerhouse and a net exporter of food.

The Ukrainian government has developed and approved a strategy for the development of the agricultural sector. It envisages the construction of 8 agricultural machinery plants and investments of $ 720 million.

New rules proposed by the European Commission to regulate new genomic technologies (NGTs) in agriculture have the potential to help solve the global food crisis, said Syngenta Group CEO Eric Firwald.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), with the mediation of the Association of Ukrainian Pig Breeders and the Save Ukraine Charitable Foundation, has donated laboratory equipment worth almost $350 thousand to the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection. The equipment was donated to the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection to help maintain the health, production and welfare of animals in Ukraine.

Jim Long Pork Commentary – July 10, 2023

The project is being implemented by the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Association of Ukrainian Pig Breeders (AUPB). The main objectives are to assess disease risks under martial law in Ukraine; train pig farm veterinarians to improve their knowledge in the field of veterinary medicine; advise on establishing biosecurity on pig farms; and prepare accessible training materials on animal health. The project was launched in October 2022. During the third quarter (March-June 2023) of the project:

Adequate colostrum intake after birth helps promote piglet survival. As litter sizes have increased in recent years, the demand for colostrum proportionately increases to achieve this desired level of intake. The recommended intake is at least 250 grams.

Jim Long Pork Commentary –  July 3, 2023

Jim Long Pork Commentary – June 26, 2023

Between-farm movements accounted for 71% of disease transmissions in the model, with local spread and vehicular transmission both contributing about 14% each.

The third module of the veterinary school completed on the 27th of June, which the Association of Ukrainian Pig Breeders (AUPB) realizes under the grant cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). 

A few days after the discovery of African swine fever (ASF) on a small farm in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the disease has spread to Croatia. 

US corn has lacked competitiveness so far in 2022-23, but has found steady demand in Mexico. The origin could struggle in 2023-24 in the face of reduced Chinese demand, particularly if weather conditions do not improve in the US corn belt.