Farm-Scape is sponsored by Manitoba Pork Council and Sask Pork Play Audio Farm-Scape is a Wonderworks Canada production and is distributed courtesy of Manitoba Pork Council and Sask Pork.

Farm-Scape, Episode 1225

The Canadian Animal Health Coalition estimates effective control practices and zoning strategies could potentially cut in half the economic impact of a foreign animal disease outbreak in Canada.

In an effort to assess the potential impact of foreign animal disease, the Canadian Animal Health Coalition conducted an economic impact assessment of a foot and mouth disease outbreak in Canada.

The exercise looked at three scenarios, a small outbreak, contained to Newfoundland, a medium outbreak, in Central or Western Canada and a large outbreak with cases across Canada. Executive Director Matt Taylor says the assessment was intended to show the total cost of an outbreak and determine how that cost could be reduced.

"The bad news is that a minimum, or the all five pigs in Newfoundland scenario, is 13 some odd billion...13 billion for a very small outbreak, a very unlikely scenario.

The more likely scenario, where it's contained in a region, on the order of 25 billion. A huge number of livestock would be lost, four to six million head.

We'd be out of the market, technically by OIE standards, for in excess of six months and it would probably take us three to four years to get back to where we are today. Potentially those costs could run as high as 45 billion with us being out perhaps for a year and requiring some six, seven years to get back to where we are today.

The good news, though, is that we could determine that there's a potential reduced costs of pretty near 50 percent whether you're looking at highly effective control practices or highly effective zoning strategies."

Taylor says we know what the remedy is. He says it's investment in preparation and planning in sound control practices and zoning strategies and partnerships involving government and industry.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.