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 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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