Animals Farmed: pig virus, wildlife trade in China, and the 'poultry capital' of Wales

Welcome to our monthly roundup of the biggest issues in farming and food production, with must-read reports from around the web

Pigs and poultry are likely to be safe from Covid-19, according to German scientists, whose study showed that while fruit bats and ferrets were susceptible to infection, pigs and chickens were not. Coronaviruses have devastated farm animals in the past. Swine acute diarrhea syndrome coronavirus (SADS-CoV) killed nearly 25,000 piglets in China in 2016-17.

A new outbreak of African swine fever (ASF), a highly contagious virus fatal to pigs, has been reported on a farm in Poland close to the German border. The German states of Brandenburg and Saxony have both recently built fences along the border with Poland to keep out wild boars infected with ASF. Meanwhile, in China authorities have launched a 60-day campaign to crack down on improper or illegal transportation of pigs to reduce ASF transmission. The outbreak in the country has already wiped out 40% of its pig population.

MEPs and campaigners have called on the EU to ban live exports to reduce the spread of zoonotic disease. The European Food Safety Authority has said in the past that the live export trade is a potential risk to public health. It said stresses associated with handling and transport may cause latent infections to proceed to clinical disease. These animals may infect others and in many cases (such as salmonellosis) would also increase the risk to public health.

A group of 40 NGOs have also written to the EU to demand an overhaul of its food and farming system post Covid-19. The pandemic had "brought to light some of the dysfunctions of our current globalised and unsustainable food systems, including the link between the increased emergence of zoonoses and intensive animal farming", they said. The letter also urged the EU not to delay the launch of its new Farm to Fork strategy any later than this month.