7 Story Idea? Contact Paul.Nolan@Farms.com Better Pork | April 2024 Populations have developed rapidly across the country in the past 15 years, the largest of which are in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. In areas where they’ve settled, they cause extensive crop and property damage, contribute to soil erosion and water contamination, and create ecosystem disruption. But it’s their disease-spreading po- tential that is particularly concerning. “It would be a crisis if we got a case of African Swine Fever in a hog barn, but eventually, we would recover as a smaller, tightly-controlled industry. However, if it is found in wild pigs in Canada it means we would have a permanent reservoir for the disease, leaving the industry in a permanent existential crisis,” says Ted Bilyea, an agri-food consultant specializing in innovation who spent 35 years working for Maple Leaf Foods. Only a few pork operations with highly compartmentalized systems, solid domestic brands, and extensive processed pork lines would survive, he adds, leading to massive industry contraction that would have a falling domino effect on many related industries that service the pork industry from genetics and feed to veterinary services and transportation. New solutions from new technology It’s a problem that led Dr. John Webb, a swine industry consultant specializing in genetics and former colleague of Bilyea’s at Maple Leaf Foods, to wonder about the potential of finding a genetic solution that could help suppress the wild boar population. Gene editing has been used successfully in mosquitos, for example, to suppress populations by making the insects sterile and to reduce the spread of malaria by modifying how they harbour and spread the parasite causing the disease. This is done using something called a gene drive, a self-propagating mechanism that scientists can insert into an organism through a gene editing tool called CRISPR. The organism passes the edited gene to its offspring and the offspring do the same. Gene editing is the technology behind the development of pigs resistant to Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PRRSV), where scientists have used the tool to disrupt a cell surface viral receptor. Webb approached Ray Lu, an associate professor in molecular and cellular biology at the University of Guelph, for help. “This type of work has not been done in farm animals, but I have a lot of experience working with mice,” says Lu. “I found this to be a very interesting problem and wanted to do something about it.” Feasibility modelling points to success potential Gene editing, he believes, could help address the ASF challenge by making Specialty pellets designed with your pigs and bottom line in mind! Available Sizes • Mini • Regular • Crumbles Quality • Very Few Fines • Piglets Love Them! Price • Very Competitive Baby Pig Pellets CONTACT KENPAL TODAY! Kenpal Farm Products Inc., 69819 London Rd, RR #1 Centralia, ON, N0M 1K0 Tel: 519-228-6444 • Toll Free: 1-800-265-2904 • Fax: 519-228-6560 kpalen@kenpal.on.ca • www.kenpal.on.ca Mini Pellets Regular Pellets ASF & WILD BOARS
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