No abstract

The goal of this study was to estimate how the perceived costs of biosecurity measures and the characteristics of the farm and the producer influence the adoption of four biosecurity measures: (1) the use of protective clothing when entering an animal shelter and (2) the use of protective shoes when entering an animal shelter, (3) the verification of the health status of animals coming to the farm, and (4) the use of a carcass container to temporarily store dead animals at the farm. Questionnaire data from 852 Finnish livestock farms were analysed by a logistic regression model. The higher the producers perceived the cost of the biosecurity measure the less likely they were to adopt that measure. However, this response was inelastic. The results suggest that the use of biosecurity could be promoted by providing producers with economic incentives to follow stricter biosecurity policy. University education and the producer's activity to maintain his/her professional knowledge had a positive effect on the adoption of biosecurity measures. Also factors such as the producer's gender, farm size and production type contributed significantly to the adoption of biosecurity measures. The ongoing structural change in the livestock sector likely increases the use of biosecurity measures as larger farms were more likely to adopt biosecurity measures.

SummaryThe NORA rapid risk assessment tool was developed for situations where there is a change in the disease status of easily transmissible animal diseases in neighbouring countries or in countries with significant interactions with Finland. The goal was to develop a tool that is quick to use and will provide consistent results to support risk management decisions. The model contains 63 questions that define the potential for entry and exposure by nine different pathways. The magnitude of the consequences is defined by 23 statements. The weight of different pathways is defined according to the properties of the assessed disease. The model was built as an Excel spreadsheet and is intended for use by animal health control administrators. As an outcome, the model gives the possible pathways of disease entry into the country, an overall approximation for the probability of entry and the subsequent exposure, an overall estimate for the consequences and a combined overall risk estimate (probability multiplied by magnitude of consequences). Model validity was assessed by expert panels. Outside Africa, African swine fever is currently established in Russia and Sardinia. In addition, there have been cases in both wild boar and domestic pigs in

Afrikkalainen sikarutto on helposti leviävä virustauti, jota ei ole tavattu Suomessa. Tauti voi aiheuttaa mittavia kustannuksia kotieläinalalle ja veronmaksajille, sekä häiritä sioista saatavien tuotteiden kansainvälistä kauppaa. Afrikkalainen sikarutto on levinnyt viimeisten kahden vuoden aikana Venäjältä Puolaan ja Baltian maihin. Esimerkiksi marraskuuhun 2015 mennessä Virossa oli raportoitu 18 kotisikatapausta ja lähes 500 villisikatapausta. Suomen ja Baltian välillä on vilkas matkailijaliikenne, ja maatilojen välillä on yhteistyötä, joten riski taudin leviämiseksi Suomeen on jatkuvasti olemassa. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää, millaisia taloudellisia tappioita afrikkalainen sikarutto voisi aiheuttaa Suomeen levitessään. Tutkimusmenetelmänä käytettiin stokastista Monte Carlo-simulaatiomallia, joka jäljittelee taudin leviämistä Suomessa sen jälkeen kun tauti on levinnyt yhdelle Suomen sikatiloista, sekä osittaisen tasapainon mallia, joka jäljittelee sikamarkkinoiden tilannetta Suomessa. Simulaatiot tehtiin sekä vuoden 2009 tilarakenteella että vuoteen 2033 sijoittuvina projektioina. Afrikkalaisen sikaruton simuloitiin aiheuttavan tyypillisesti 10,5 miljoonan euron (95 % välillä 4,6-22,7 miljoonaa euroa, keskimäärin noin 7400 € per sikatila) menetykset suomalaiselle sika-alalle. Verovaroista korvattavien välittömien kustannusten arvioitiin jäävän tyypillisesti alle puoleen miljoonaan ja useimmissa tapauksissa alle miljoonaan euroon. Tulos johtui sitä, että simulaatioiden perusteella taudin arvioitiin leviävän useimmiten vain 1-2 sikatilalle. Tartunnan saaneen tilan koko, tyyppi ja sijainti vaikuttivat tappioihin. Verovaroista korvattavat kustannukset ovat kuitenkin vain osa kokonaiskustannuksista. Suurimmat taloudelliset tappiot arvioitiin aiheutuvan kotieläinyrityksille (sikatilat, lihateollisuus), joiden menetysten arvioitiin olevan 7,4–38,1 miljoonaa euroa. Taudin esiintyminen Suomessa keskeyttänee sikatuotteiden viennin EU:n ulkopuolisiin maihin, ja jossain määrin myös EU:n alueelle. Siten kotimaan markkinoille syntyy ylitarjontaa, joka laskee sianlihan hintaa Suomessa. Kuluttajien (kuluttajat, kauppa) simuloitiin hyötyvän hetkellisestä ylitarjonnasta 3,1-15,8 milj. euroa. Lisäksi tappioiden suuruuteen vaikuttaa se, miten voimakkaasti ja miten pitkäksi ajaksi sianlihan vienti heikkenee. Tulokset viittaavat siihen, että jokainen lisäkuukausi aiheuttaisi kansantaloudelle 2-3 miljoonan euron lisätappiot. On mahdollista, että rajoitukset kestävät joidenkin vientikohteiden osalta useita kuukausia, jopa vuosia, ja ne voivat koskea koko Suomen sianlihantuotantoa riippumatta siitä, miten laajalle tauti pääsee leviämään. Afrikkalaisen sikaruton taloudelliset tappiot olivat samaa suuruusluokkaa vuoden 2009 tilanteessa ja vuoteen 2033 sijoittuvissa projektioissa, joskin verovaroista korvattaviin kustannuksiin liittyvä riski nousi nykytilanteeseen verrattuna

In order to influence farmers to improve biosecurity, we need to know which factors affect their decision making.The maintaining of professional skills might be an important motivator when farmers implement biosecurity measures. Another factor that might influence their behavior is their perceived ability to influence disease transmission.The aim was to analyze whether maintaining of professional skills and perceived influence affect the improvement of on-farm biosecurity.Methods & Materials: The study was based on a questionnaire sent to 3000 cattle and 1000 pig farmers in Finland. The response rate was 44% and summed up to 1656 useful answers.Maintaining of professional skills was based on the question "In what way do you maintain your professional capability" including three options: Reading agricultural magazines, attending branch related courses and lectures, and looking for information on the internet.The respondents' perceived influence on their animal disease situation was based on the question: "Which of the following do you think you are able to influence?" giving six response options: the disease situation on your farm, the disease spread within your farm, the effect of biosecurity measures on your farm, new diseases spreading to your farm, the disease situation in Finland, the spread of disease from your own farm onwards Each "yes" gave one point and each "no" zero points. These were then summed up and applied as two covariates (professional skills and influence) in the generalized linear models (GLM) that predicted the implementation of 18 different biosecurity measures on farms (e.g. quarantine, traffic arrangement, carcass container and insurance).Results: Farmers who maintain their professional skills and believe in their ability to impact biosecurity are more willing to improve the biosecurity on their farms. Sixteen of the 18 biosecurity measures tested were statistically significantly dependent on the impact -covariate and nine were dependent on the professional skills -covariate. Conclusion:Motivation is positively associated with increased willingness to improve on-farm biosecurity. If we manage to increase the motivation of the farmers through education etc. we could achieve a considerable improvement in biosecurity.