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A deadly disease in pigs known as African Swine Fever (ASF) has spread across Europe and Asia during the past decade and could devastate the U.S. pork industry if it reaches this country, costing the industry billions of dollars in revenue and tens of thousands of jobs.
To combat this emerging threat, Dr. Lydia Carpenter of the Department of Agriculture developed a groundbreaking program to prevent, detect and lessen the potential impact of ASF through coordination of government regulators, farmers, pork producers and other stakeholders.
“Lydia Carpenter led efforts to establish program priorities, supported the program design, led stakeholder communications … and administered $3 million in cooperative agreements to allow 36 states who were enrolling participants to have the support they needed,” said Lisa Rochette, a director at the Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
The U.S. export market for pork is an $8 billion business. If ASF entered the country and could not be rapidly contained and eradicated, causing prolonged disruption to trade markets, the U.S. could lose an estimated $50 billion in trade and direct losses over 10 years, with more than 140,000 jobs affected.
Carpenter developed and implemented the initiative as a pilot program, bringing together state and federal regulators and stakeholders in the pork production business to make decisions and develop standards for the industry to follow. The standards focus on preventing disease from entering farms, using surveillance to rapidly detect disease and monitoring pigs’ movements to contain disease if it is detected.
To turn the pilot into a federal program, Carpenter drafted policy and regulations and navigated complex federal regulatory processes. The final rule, now pending, would unify and define standards for biosecurity, traceability and testing in the swine industry.
Although Carpenter is early in her career, she is “already a superstar in terms of the skill set that she’s bringing forward,” said Kathleen O’Hara, an assistant director of swine health at USDA.
O’Hara said the program’s success “means food on people’s tables and jobs and livelihoods for many people. The stability of our industry in the face of disease outbreaks is critical, she said, adding that the program “is intended to show our trade partners that our product is safe.”
As of October 2024, the 36 states participating in the program had enrolled more than 12,000 swine facilities, or three-quarters of the country’s swine herds.
Carpenter stressed the importance of being prepared for disease, citing the devastating effects of avian influenza on the poultry industry. She said she takes great satisfaction knowing “we’re doing everything that we can to protect the health of our swine herd and then, should we have a disease introduction, everything that we can do to maintain the economic viability of the pork industry.”
July 19, 2025 - Samuel J. Heyman Service to America