ANALYSIS - Big data is a hot topic in agriculture, and it's no stranger to the swine industry. Researchers are identifying how to apply big data and modeling to improve swine health in North America. While everybody's talking about big data, we don't always think about it being used in the swine industry, but Jim Lowe, associate professor at the University of Illinois, says it is."We do that all the time. We use sequences to look at PRRS; we use geo-mapping to look at PRRS," said Dr. Lowe. "We're going to talk about how do we think a little bit more like engineers and use a systems-based approach to use big data to answer the "what" question and use models to say, 'Why is it going on and how do we fix it?'