RICHMOND – Long before the world became aware of the novel coronavirus that has most people in the United States staying home, the pork industry watched with concern as a different virus decimated the pig population in China. African swine fever does not infect or harm humans, but the disease is deadly to pigs. Since August 2018, estimates are that the disease has cut China’s swine herd in half and has spread to other countries in Asia and several European countries. A fnew study from Iowa State University and BarnTools, “a digital biosecurity platform company,” estimates an African swine fever outbreak in this country could cost at least $14 billion over two years and as much as $50 billion over 10 years. Iowa State University economist Dermot Hayes, one of the study’s authors, said the difference in estimates comes from whether the virus is kept to the wild boar population or gets into the domestic supply. Identification of the disease would immediately close export markets, Hayes…