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The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is hosting its fourth African Swine Fever (ASF) Action Week this week (October 28-November 1, 2024). We are encouraging U.S. swine producers, small farms and owners of all types of pigs to join us to learn about ASF and what they can do to help protect the U.S. swine herd.
See related resource: Protect Our Pigs: Fight African Swine Fever

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $11.65 million in 14 projects to help agricultural producers and private landowners trap and control feral swine as part of the Feral Swine Eradication and Control Pilot Program. This investment expands the pilot program to new projects in Alabama, Hawaii, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas. This pilot program is a joint effort between USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

This second round of funding is for partners to carry out activities as part of the identified pilot projects in select states. "These awards enable landowners to address the threat that feral swine pose to natural resources and agriculture," NRCS Acting Chief Kevin Norton said. "The projects we have identified will be key to addressing the feral swine problem."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) today announced four grants totaling more than $13.6 million to combat a scourge on the nation's citrus industry, citrus greening disease, aka Huanglongbing. The funding is made possible through NIFA's Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) Citrus Disease Research and Extension Program, authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill.

The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has announced new efforts to help prevent the introduction and spread of African swine fever in the U.S. Through an outreach and awareness campaign called “Protect Our Pigs,” APHIS will support commercial pork producers, veterinarians, and pig owners with information and resources to help safeguard America’s swine population and the pork industry.

APHIS is deploying a variety of outreach efforts to support critical stakeholders. The new Protect Our Pigs website will house materials such as downloadable fact sheets and posters, instructional videos, shareable social media graphics, a new interactive biosecurity guide, and offer the latest disease updates. If African swine fever is detected in the U.S., APHIS will also be ready to respond immediately with actionable information and resources for pig owners and the public.

USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is using emergency funding to respond to the threats associated with growing outbreaks of exotic fruit flies and New World screwworm. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack approved the transfer of $213.3 million from the Commodity Credit Corporation to APHIS to directly support emergency response efforts domestically and internationally to protect fruit, vegetable and livestock industries and producers.

"Increasing our response efforts to exotic fruit fly and New World screwworm outbreaks is critical to minimizing their potential impact on our nation’s agriculture and trade," said USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Jenny Lester Moffitt. "This funding will enable us to swiftly prevent both populations’ further spread before they become established and harder to eradicate."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has released Fruit Fly Exclusion and Detection Program Fiscal Years 2024-2028 Strategy [PDF, 1.2 MB]. APHIS worked with members of the National Plant Board to develop a unified roadmap for USDA and its partners to protect American agriculture from the threat of invasive fruit flies and measure our progress along the way.
See also: Exotic Fruit Flies for more information

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is providing $502 million under the Animal Health Protection Act to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to prepare for potential additional detections of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in the United States.

USDA continues to successfully combat HPAI in the United States. In May 2022, there were a total of 18 commercial poultry HPAI detections. In May 2023, there were 0 commercial poultry detections, a decrease of 100% from the previous year. Additionally, there has not been a case of HPAI in commercial poultry since April 19, 2023 or in backyard poultry since May 18, 2023.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is allocating more than $70 million to support 350 projects under the Plant Protection Act’s Section 7721 program as part of a nationwide effort to strengthen the country’s infrastructure for pest detection, surveillance, and mitigation, as well as protect the U.S. nursery system. Universities, states, federal agencies, nongovernmental organizations, nonprofits, and Tribal organizations will carry out selected projects in 48 states, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

With cases of a strain of what is known as bird flu recently found in dairy cattle, USDA and other stakeholders have been busy monitoring the situation and implementing measures to protect our nation’s dairy cattle. Rod Bain and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack looks at what has so far transpired in this edition of “Agriculture USA”.
See related resource: Avian Influenza

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is recognizing National Pollinator Week (June 19-25, 2023) through the continued commitment and support for pollinator health and research. Pollinator species, such as bees, other insects, birds and bats play a critical role in producing more than 100 crops grown in the United States. Honey bee pollination alone adds more than $18 billion in value to agricultural crops annually.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Spotted Lanternfly Strategic Planning Working Group has released the Spotted Lanternfly (SLF) Five-Year Strategy for fiscal years 2024-2028 [PDF, 4.47 MB]. APHIS brought together the working group in August 2022 with representatives from APHIS, the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) and the National Plant Board (NPB). The working group developed a unified approach to reduce the spotted lanternfly’s spread and impacts through the effective use of available State and Federal resources.

As winter approaches, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is reminding the public not to move wood out of areas quarantined for the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB). It is important that people follow state and federal laws, which restrict the movement of woody material, to keep the tree-killing pest from spreading outside of quarantined areas in Massachusetts, Ohio, and New York.

Scientists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture are studying ways to keep honeybees stress-free and healthy. These pollinators are important to American agriculture and our nation’s food crops.

USDA Service Centers are designed to be a single location where customers can access the services provided by the Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the Rural Development agencies. This locator site provides Agency offices serving your area (by state and county).

The use of native plant material in conservation, restoration and land management results in healthy ecosystems countering the effects of invasive plant species, altered wildfire regimes, extreme weather events and human-caused events. The National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration 2015-2020 promotes the use of native plant materials to restore plant communities and support healthy ecosystems.
See related resource: National Seed Strategy

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced its strengthened commitment to advancing research and programmatic priorities that support pollinator health by soliciting nominations for members to serve on its newly formed USDA National Pollinator Subcommittee. The Pollinator Subcommittee will provide input on annual USDA strategic pollinator priorities and goals and will make pollinator health-related recommendations to strengthen USDA pollinator research efforts. USDA is both a major funder and conductor of pollinator research, with research initiatives spanning across five USDA mission areas.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it will invest $15 million this year for the Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) Classic program. Through CIG, grantees work to address our nation's water quality, water quantity, air quality, soil health and wildlife habitat challenges, all while supporting agricultural production. This year’s funding priorities are climate-smart agriculture, addressing invasive species and conservation in urban agricultural systems. For more information about the Conservation Innovation Grants program, visit the NRCS website.

Traveling for holidays? Then this new site can help you determine what items can be brought into the U.S. Bringing food and other items back from your travels (anytime of the year) could impact the health and safety of American agriculture and natural resources. For example, travelers cannot bring in most fresh fruits and vegetables because they can carry plant pests or diseases.  Just one pest could devastate multiple agricultural industries.

Traveling With Food or Agricultural Products provides everyone with important information about which agricultural items are safe to enter the United States – and which ones are best left behind. This helps protect the health of our country’s plants, animals and natural resources, ensuring many happy holidays to come.