The Ontario swine industry has many strong components in place to support its position as a leader in animal health. These include access to a world class animal health laboratory, strong epidemiological resources and provincial governmental support (the Animal Health Act, the Ontario Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Rural Affairs disease surveillance plan and the Ontario Animal Health Network (OAHN)). Additionally, Swine Health Ontario, working with industry partners including OAHN, Ontario Pork Industry Council, Ontario Pork and the University of Guelph created the ARC&E system, which has evolved into the Swine Health Area Regional Control (SHARC) program, an industry driven surveillance system focused on swine diseases that are emerging or re-emerging threats.
What is SHARC?
SHARC is a voluntary project that Ontario producers can participate in to help facilitate disease control and elimination projects across the province.
The standardization and integration of disease data (beginning with Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome virus (PRRS) and Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED)) with a geographical information system (GIS) provides for visualization, temporal and spatial analysis of the information in order to reduce disease transmission risks to the industry.
Why should you enroll?
- SHARC improves our industry’s ability to prevent, control, contain and eliminate swine diseases;
- Health status updates emailed to you when a new site has been identified as disease positive;
- A map with health status information for farms that have voluntarily enrolled; and
- Leads to better decision making at the farm level.
Please be advised that effective November 23, 2022, the ARC&E name has been changed to SHARC (Swine Health Area Regional Control). All terms and conditions remain unchanged.