Resource Search

APHIS offers the Defend the Flock education program to provide the tools and resources you need to make sure that you are doing everything possible to keep your birds healthy and reduce the risk that an infectious disease will spread from your property to other flocks. Biosecurity is the key to keeping our Nation’s poultry healthy!

The Defend the Flock program provides information and resources from USDA and other experts for keeping poultry healthy. It includes practical tips from growers like you, veterinarians, state agencies, scientists, and industry professionals for practicing biosecurity every day. Biosecurity is a team effort. We have to work together to defend our nation’s flocks. Resources include information needed to practice good biosecurity is available here -- checklists, resource guides, videos, and other tools.

In response to the increasing damage and disease threats posed by expanding feral swine populations in the U.S. , Congress appropriated funds to APHIS in 2014 to create a collaborative National Feral Swine Damage Management Program. Congress continues to allocate funds annually to support the program. The program’s overarching goal is to protect agricultural and natural resources, property, animal health, and human health and safety by managing feral swine damage. APHIS collaborates with many stakeholders—including States, Tribes, other Federal agencies, universities, and the public—to accomplish this goal.
See related resource: Squeal on Pigs!

When it comes to preventing the spread of invasive pests, every one of us can play a big role. By doing the right things we can all help stop this threat to so much that we value. Please do your part and learn what you can do to "leave Hungry Pests behind."

Effective November 16, 2021, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) established a Mediterranean fruit fly (Medfly) quarantine area in San Bernardino and Los Angeles Counties, California. APHIS is applying safeguarding measures and restrictions on the interstate movement or entry into foreign trade of regulated articles from this area. This action is in response to the CDFA’s confirmation of a mature, unmated female Medfly on October 25, and a subsequently confirmed male Medfly on November 9 from Jackson traps placed in backyard citrus trees in residential areas of Upland, California. There are 15.75 acres of commercial agricultural production in the quarantine area. Currently, the quarantine area encompasses 95 square miles.

Effective immediately, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), in cooperation with the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), is expanding the quarantine for the box tree moth (BTM, Cydalima perspectalis) to include all of Clinton, Eaton, Ingham, Jackson, Livingston, Monroe, Oakland, and Wayne Counties in Michigan.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is announcing the implementation of Phase VII of the Lacey Act provisions. APHIS is finalizing the associated declaration requirement required by Congress for plant and wood products. In this phase, declarations will be required for all remaining plant product Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) codes that are not 100-percent composite materials. Implementation of Phase VII will begin December 1, 2024.

If an importer imports items that contain plant products, but do not currently file a Lacey Act declaration, they likely will need to file under Phase VII. Phase VII includes the broadest range of items, items as varied as industrial or medicinal plants, handbags, plywood, laminated wood, tools, matches with natural wood stems, products of natural cork, products of bamboo and rattan, footwear and more. Plant and wood products included in past phases include timber, some furniture, essential oils, wood cases and trunks, and woodwind instruments and their parts and accessories.
See also: Lacey Act Phase VII Implementation: Frequently Asked Questions and Plant Protection Today: Lacey Act Phase VII Is Coming (Apr 27, 2023)

Effective immediately, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is modifying the conditions under which citrus fruit may be moved interstate from areas quarantined for sweet orange scab (SOS) when destined for processing or packing in a commercial citrus-producing state without a state-wide SOS quarantine.

APHIS created the webpage to make it easier for its customers to find critical information on pests and diseases of concern. With this tool, members of the public will have the information they need to report pests and diseases and together we can protect America’s agriculture and natural resources. This page lists all pest and disease programs managed by APHISas part of its mission to protect American agriculture and natural resources. Users can search by type (plant, animal), keyword (avian, fruit fly, cotton), or by the specific pest or disease (coconut rhinoceros beetle, brucellosis). You can also scroll through the page, which lists the pests and diseases alphabetically and includes a corresponding image.

USDA's Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) continuously takes steps to enhance our ability to exclude, control, and eradicate pests and increase the safety of agricultural trade. Across the country, PPQ worked with the States and other partners to detect, contain, and when possible, eradicate invading pests. On the world stage, PPQ worked closely with our international trading partners to develop and promote science-based standards, helping to create a safe, fair, and predictable agricultural trade system that minimizes the spread of invasive plant pests and diseases. Learn about the many successes and accomplishments captured in the 2018 report (APHIS 81-05-021) and how PPQ is working every day to keep U.S. agriculture healthy and profitable.