CORTELEONA E GENZONE, Italy -- One of Giovanni Airoli’s sows turned up positive for African swine fever in late August. Within a week, all 6,200 sows, piglets and fattening pigs on his farm south of Milan were slaughtered under strict protocols to halt the disease threatening Italy’s 20-billion-euro prosciutto, cured sausage and pork industry.

Since African swine fever emerged on the Italian mainland in January 2022, Italy has culled nearly 120,000 pigs — three-quarters of those over the past two months alone as the emergency escalated.

“It's a devastating situation," Airoli remarked outside his farm in the northern Lombardy region, the epicenter of Italy's swine fever outbreak. Only employees are allowed entry and exit, and then only under strict hygiene protocols that mandate clean coveralls and boots for use solely within the premises.

“This happened to us despite rigorously implementing all required safety measures. There was clearly a lapse. We're unclear about the cause," Airoli stated.

The disease surged in early September with 24 outbreaks, predominantly in Lombardy. The region of greatest concern, where the infection has been confirmed in domestic pigs, spans 4,500 square kilometers (nearly 1,740 square miles) and encompasses neighboring Piedmont and Emilia Romagna, a region celebrated worldwide for its renowned Parma prosciutto.

The effects of the swine fever outbreak extend beyond the immediate impact. Farmers operating within the affected area of 23,000 square kilometers (8,880 square miles) face limitations due to infected wild boars or being situated within a buffer zone.

The disease, which is almost always fatal to pigs, first infected wild boar populations and rapidly spread to domesticated pigs. It poses no threat to humans.

Coldiretti, Italy’s influential agricultural lobby group, estimates that the industry has incurred 500 million euros ($554 million) in damages so far, partly due to import bans, and warns that some farmers are facing the risk of losing their livelihoods.

According to their calculations, the sector generates 20 billion euros ($22 billion) across the supply chain, from farms where the pigs are raised to factories where ham is cured.

“The spread of swine fever has become a serious concern, putting at risk not only the health of the animals but also the entire pork industry," Confindustria President Ettore Prandini cautioned in a recent letter to the agricultural minister.

The government named a new special commissioner to handle the outbreak over the summer, appointing Giovanni Filippini, a qualified veterinarian and longtime Italian animal health authority director who successfully eradicated swine fever from the island of Sardinia.

Two previous commissioners focused efforts on deploying the army to hunt wild boar, facing opposition from sport hunters and the European Union, which stressed that hunting could spread the disease to new areas.

Instead, Filippini has implemented stricter measures regarding farm access and animal transportation, and has expanded the buffer zones. These actions appear to be yielding positive results. In Lombardy, only one new outbreak was reported during the last full week of September.

“This is a positive development, but not a decisive victory yet,” said Giovanni Loris Alborali, director of the animal health institute for Lombardy and Emilia Romagna. “We must maintain high sanitation standards. This will contribute to improved animal health, leading to better growth rates for farmers and a reduction in antibiotic use for consumers in the future.”

Following the confirmation of swine fever in Italy, 12 countries, including China, Taiwan, and Mexico, immediately banned imports of all Italian pork products, regardless of their origin. Japan, South Korea, and four other countries imposed restrictions on imports.

This immediate ban resulted in a loss of 20 million euros ($22 million) per month in exports, significantly impacting a sector that generated 2.1 billion euros ($2.3 billion) in revenue last year, according to the Assica association of Italian meat industries.

Major markets like the United States and Canada continued to import pork products, as long as they originated from areas not impacted by swine fever.

Airoli, who produces ham for both San Daniele and Parma prosciutto, like numerous other farmers, anticipates a delay in restarting his business, which raises about 13,000 pigs annually, until swine fever is contained. There is no indication when this might occur.

That's having an impact on Italy's prosciutto production.

“The limited availability of fresh pork legs is causing significant production challenges," according to a statement by the Parma Prosciutto Consortium, which produces prosciutto bearing the certificate of origin designed to safeguard high-quality foods crafted using traditional techniques. It also stated that the surge in raw material prices due to the emergency was “unsustainable.”

Farmers located outside the affected regions are taking extra precautions to prevent the disease from spreading to their farms. Once identified, all pigs on the farm, even if healthy, must be culled.

Sergio Visini, who operates the antibiotic-free Piggly farm in Lombardy's eastern Mantova province, mandates that trucks transporting pigs undergo a second sanitation process upon entering the sterile area where the pigs are housed.

“We meticulously sterilize all the wheels and any truck part that could introduce contamination," said Visini, who launched the farm in 2017 with the goal of raising pigs in a stress-free environment with ample space. He encourages other farmers to adopt his practices.

“This outbreak presents a chance to enhance animal health and well-being,” he added.

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