According to Korves (2015), China produces half of the world's pork and imports the largest volume of pork globally. Gale et al. (2012) reported that China's pork industry continues to be volatile and whilst there are a growing number of large, modernproducers, the bulk of production still takes place on millions of farms in China's villages. China's swine industry has been affected in recent years by disease outbreaks and food safety scandals that have not only generated volatile price swings but also have negative impacts on the image of the industry and on consumers' trust in pork products. These incidents not only affect farmers' profits and overall efficiency of the industry, but also adversely affect the reputation of the industry and its products. The purpose of this paper is to report the findings from a survey that aimed to provide an understanding of the impact that farmer (defined as the person managing and handling the pigs) training had on current practices of managing sick pigs, theuse of medication at the village level, and opportunities to improve herd health and food safety in China's pork industry.
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