As the Associated Press noted in a 2019 article, hurricanes often spawn storms of misinformation. Indeed, North Carolina’s pork industry has been a victim of misinformation before, during and after recent hurricanes.

With the June 1 arrival of a new hurricane season, here are five things to keep in mind:

Things have improved dramatically in the past 20 years.

More than twenty years ago, Hurricane Floyd caught many hog farmers off guard. Since then, the landscape has dramatically changed. No new hog farms have been built for more than two decades, hundreds of lagoons in flood-prone areas have been voluntarily closed, and the industry has been proactive in making hurricane preparations a year-round practice.

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The election of pork producer delegate candidates for the 2022 National Pork Producers (Pork Act) Delegate Body will take place at 1:00 p.m., Wednesday, August 4, 2021, in conjunction with a Board of Directors meeting of the NC Pork Council at the NC State University Club in the Lutz Ballroom, 4200 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh, NC, 27606. All North Carolina pork producers are invited to attend.

Any producer, age 18 or older, who is a resident of North Carolina and has paid all assessments due since August 2020 may be considered as a delegate candidate and/or participate in the election. All eligible producers are encouraged to have available a sales receipt proving that hogs were sold in their name and the checkoff deducted. For more information, contact the NC Pork Council, 1401 Sunday Drive, Suite 116, Raleigh, NC 27607, telephone 919-781-0361 or amy@ncpork.org.

The NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and NCPC released a statement regarding the confirmation of African Swine Fever in the Dominican Republic:

For the first time in almost four decades, African swine fever has been detected in the Americas. This is a concerning development, but one for which the commercial pork industry is well prepared. Biosecurity has long been a major focus of commercial hog production and biosecurity procedures have remained high since African swine fever was first detected in China.

However, with more than 2,100 commercial hog farms and more than 1,000 small hog farms across the state, it will take the continued focus and dedication of every farmer and farm employee to ensure that we remain free of African swine fever.

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