Ag shows postponed due to coronavirus

Organizers of three animal agriculture shows have postponed the events due to concerns over the coronavirus:

The VICTAM and Animal Health and Nutrition Asia 2020 conference, in Bangkok, has been pushed back to July. So has the ILDEX Vietnam conference. VIV MEA, in Abu Dhabi, has been pushed back to late August, Feedstuffs reported.

In the United States, shows are continuing as planned. These include this month’s American Association of Swine Veterinarians Annual Meeting and the 2020 Midwest Poultry Federation Convention.

There’s been a lot of discussion about whether and how the new coronavirus, which causes the flu-like illness  COVID-19, spreads between humans and animals. The outbreak that began in Wuhan, China, was traced back to a wet market with wild animals.

This has caused some confusion since coronaviruses other than the new one are common in livestock—but those common strains don’t appear to spread from livestock to humans.

“Coronavirus is a common virus in livestock herds and poultry flock seen routinely worldwide,” Dr. Heather Simmons, associate director of the Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases and associate department head of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, told Feedstuffs. “It is important to create an understanding of the difference between coronaviruses occurring in domestic livestock and poultry compared to coronaviruses that spill over from wildlife to humans,” like the current strain, she said.

In related news, officials in China said that while the country’s grain planting has been disrupted as authorities try to stem the virus’ spread, that won’t necessarily keep China from meeting its grain target. Reuters reported that update.