Reflecting on Working With Dr. Sundberg

Written by: Leah Wilkinson   |   December 19, 2023

Pork

I have been blessed to work with many dedicated professionals who have enlightened or mentored me during my career in agriculture policy. Dr. Paul Sundberg is one of those individuals who has been there from the beginning when I started as an intern in Washington, D.C., with the National Pork Producers Council. Our paths continued to cross as I moved to work for different species organizations and luckily, it continued here in the feed industry.  

Dr. Sundberg will soon retire from his post as executive director of the Swine Health Information Council (SHIC) and has been integral to growing the relationship between the swine industry, the American Feed Industry Association and the Institute for Feed Education and Research. In particular, through our partnerships, we have been able to jointly address many swine health and feed challenges. I hope you will enjoy learning more about him in this blog to keep that relationship going.  

Happy retirement, Dr. Sundberg!  

Q: How did SHIC come together and what is its mission? 

Dr. Sundberg: SHIC was a concept born from the pork industry’s experience with the 2013 porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) outbreak. The board of directors with the National Pork Board decided that the pork industry needed to do a better job monitoring, preventing (if possible), preparing, responding, and recovering from emerging swine diseases that show up with some regularity over the years. They used their Pork Checkoff money to fund the Swine Health Information Center. Its mission is to protect and enhance the health of the U.S. swine herd by minimizing the impact of emerging disease threats through preparedness, coordinated communications, global disease monitoring, analysis of swine health data and targeted research investments. 

Q: What connection is there between the feed industry and swine health? 

Dr. Sundberg: It is a strong one because each industry is directly dependent on the other. Good nutrition, feed availability and feed safety are needed to help ensure swine health and the opportunity for producer profitability. 

Q: With your upcoming retirement, are there any projects or initiatives you are particularly proud to have been a part of during your career? 

Dr. Sundberg: Multiple. The international and domestic swine disease monitoring projects. The formation of a rapid response program to quickly investigate outbreaks of diseases on farms. Offering continued diagnostic fee support when a diagnostic lab report is unsatisfying. And feed-specific, most of the research provided the foundation to the risk of disease transmission via feed and the mitigations that might limit it.  And, projects that I have “been a part of” should be stressed. SHIC has had the support and collaboration of a wide variety of pork producers, veterinarians, industry associations, state and federal animal health officials, animal health companies, and allied industries like the AFIA. 

Q: What has changed the most in the pork industry during your career? 

Dr. Sundberg: Certainly, the most profound change has been consolidation. When I started my career as a practicing veterinarian, a farm with 300 commercial sows could support a family. Along with that is all that we now know about biosecurity. The industry has changed so much with the continued enhancements of biosecurity that it does not really resemble where it was when I started. And I am confident that there is much more to come. 

Q: As you hand the reigns over to Dr. Megan Niederwerder, what future challenges do you foresee the swine industry facing? Is there a role for the feed industry to help combat those challenges? 

Dr. Sundberg: The biggest continuing challenge for the swine industry, read that to say ‘pork producers,’ is the continuing economic situation changes. For producers to stay in production they have to have the economic incentives and results that will support that. The feed industry plays an especially significant role in that. The cost of feed is the major cost of bringing a pig to market.

Improvements in nutrition, feed safety and feed industry technologies will mean more efficient production and more opportunities for pork producer profitability. 

Q: If you could go back and tell a young Paul Sundberg something to better prepare you for your career, what would it be?  

Dr. Sundberg: I guess, first, it would be to give myself advice to get help in how to be a better critical thinker and debater. That’s a skill that could have been taught but I had to develop it, at least to the degree that I have, over my career. Then, I would tell myself that I have the ability and opportunity to stay positive because I will be working with the best people possible—smart, dedicated, willing to guide and willing to listen. I’ve been blessed working with all of the people I’ve worked with throughout my career. 

Q: What is the first thing you plan to do in retirement? 

Dr. Sundberg: My grandson says that he is going to teach me to fish! I’m looking forward to that! Then, there are all the “honey do” projects that my wife, Deb, has let me put on the back burner so I could do my job. They are all now coming due. I am sure she has a list of places that she is planning for us to see. And when that gets done, I will see what I want to do when I grow up and what is next.