African swine fever destroying small pig farms, as factory farming booms – report
Small farmers across the globe are losing out in the aftermath of the African swine fever (ASF) outbreak that killed a quarter of the world’s pig population, argues a new report.
Nowhere is this more evident than China, where swine fever has hit the country’s nearly 40 million small-scale pig farmers hardest, says the report by non-profit organisation Grain.
China’s long tradition of small-scale pig farming seems to be coming to an end because of a lack of government support to compensate for culled or diseased pigs, to pay for veterinary costs or chemicals for limiting the spread of ASF, and other biosecurity measures in existing facilities, according to Grain.
“Unfortunately, small farmers are getting almost no support, from what we can see,” said Devlin Kuyek, lead author of the report.
After the first notification of the ASF outbreak in China in August 2018, the illness spread rapidly throughout the industry and led to the slaughter of millions of pigs within months.
Just a year later, however, the startling rise in pork prices meant that, despite their losses, many of the biggest industrial pig producers were achieving record profits.
Looks like a life sentence in prison for the pigs kept in these conditions...
Interested? Read more here...
www.msn.com...
Poll: If we want to reduce speeding, what do you think actually changes driver behaviour? 🛻🚨🚓
In the Post's article on speeding penalties, the question is asked whether speeding fines are truly about road safety, or are they just a way to boost revenue for the Crown?
What do you think? Should speeding motorists receive speeding fines or demerit points?
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38.3% The sting of a fine (Money talks!)
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61.7% The threat of demerit points (Nobody wants to lose their license!)
Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
🎉 Riddle me this, legends! 🎉
He/She who makes it, sells it.
He/She who buys it, doesn't use it.
The user doesn't know they are using it.
What is it?
(Shezz from Ngāruawāhia kindly provided this head-scratcher ... thanks, Shezz!)
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