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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.

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.

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.

After weeks of searching, Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) entomologists–—using a radio tag provided by USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and a trap developed by the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service–— have located and eradicated the first Asian giant hornet (AGH) nest ever found in the United States. For months, WSDA had been trying to find the nest they knew must exist near Blaine, WA, because of AGH detections in the area. But finding the nest proved extremely challenging since the hornets build nests in forested areas, typically in an underground cavity.

On May 14, Director Reilly signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of the Navy and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The MOA provides for continuity of operations for the USFWS and the USGS with construction of new office and lab facilities on the Guam National Wildlife Refuge in conjunction with DOD’s construction of a Marine Corps firing range. "The USGS has a long history of collaborating with the Department of Defense in support of U.S. facilities and force readiness in the INDOPACOM Area of Responsibility. One of our signature efforts ongoing today is a collaboration with DOD, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the local government in minimizing the impacts of the invasive Brown Treesnakes (BTS) and improving BTS controls on military lands on Guam," said Jim Reilly, director of the USGS.

The high winds, heavy rains and storm tides caused by hurricanes and tropical storms can rapidly change the landscape of an area affected by a storm. Hurricane-related flooding can also result in a slow transformation of ecosystems found on land and in water, as floodwaters can carry invasive wildlife and plant species into new regions, accelerating their spread.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) delivers high-quality data, technologies, and decision-support tools to help managers reduce existing populations and control the spread of invasive carp in the Nation's waterways.
See also: Geonarratives for all USGS geonarrative / story map resources

From March to May 2024, scientists from the USGS will install baiting platforms for invasive grass carp and equipment for monitoring fish movement in pool 19 of the Upper Mississippi River. Pool 19 contains 30,466 acres of aquatic habitat, extending 46.3 miles from Lock & Dam 19 located near Keokuk, Iowa upstream to Lock & Dam 18 located near Burlington, Iowa.

Project completion is expected by December 2024, with results being publicly available in 2025. This project is supported through the U.S. Geological Survey Ecosystems Mission Area, Biological Threats Research Program, and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

Recent hurricanes may have spread non-native freshwater plants and animals into new water bodies, where some of them can disrupt living communities or change the landscape. To help land managers find and manage these flood-borne newcomers, scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey have created four online maps, one for each hurricane. These “storm tracker” map sets, on which users can see the potential spread of any of 226 non-native aquatic plant and animal species during the 2017 hurricane season. For more information, see Flood and Storm Tracker (FaST) Maps.

Natural resource managers in British Columbia discovered several adult male and female European green crabs on Haida Gwaii this past July. Alarm bells immediately went off for biologists in Alaska. The archipelago of Haida Gwaii, off the coast of Prince Rupert in British Columbia, is very close to Alaska. The July discovery is the closest confirmed finding of the invasive crustacean since it was first detected in the San Francisco Bay area in 1989.

The soybean cyst nematode, an invasive parasite that attacks soybean roots – causes over $1 billion of damage each year in the U.S. Harnessing beneficial fungi that target these nematodes could be a solution. Scientists with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) are stepping up their efforts to control agricultural pests, without the use of chemical pesticides. One promising solution are fungi carried by the pests themselves in a symbiotic relationship.

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Clean Wake LLC, the National Park Service at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and other partnering agencies are excited to announce a new first-of-its-kind dip tank method (YouTube video - Lake Powell AIS Dip Tank) that will revolutionize boat decontamination in the fight against invasive quagga mussels.

A new study shows that vaccination may reduce the impact of white-nose syndrome in bats, marking a milestone in the international fight against one of the most destructive wildlife diseases in modern times. "This is a significant step forward in developing control mechanisms to combat the devastating spread of white-nose syndrome in our important bat populations," said USGS Director Jim Reilly. "Being able to deliver an oral vaccine during hibernation could be a game changer in our ability to combat one of the deadliest wildlife diseases in modern times." White-nose syndrome is caused by a fungus called Pseudogymnoascus destructans, or Pd, and has killed millions of North American bats since 2006. The disease is spreading rapidly and there is no cure.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released the National Public Health Strategy to Prevent and Control Vector-Borne Diseases in People (VBD National Strategy). As directed by the 2019 Kay Hagan Tick Act—named after the U.S. Senator who died due to complications from a tickborne illness—HHS led a four-year process with civilian agencies and defense departments to deliver this strategy. Co-led by the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the strategy identifies and describes federal priorities to detect, prevent, respond to, and control diseases and conditions caused by vectors in the United States. This VBD National Strategy represents the largest formal federal coordination effort focused on vector-borne disease prevention and control with contributions by over 50 representatives across 17 federal agencies.
See also: U.S. Health and Human Services Press Release on VBD National Strategy (Feb 6, 2024)

The newly launched Vermont Forest Invasive Pest Status Map offers an interactive platform to track the spread of invasive species such as beech leaf disease, elm zigzag sawfly, elongate hemlock scale, emerald ash borer, and hemlock woolly adelgid across the state. The application provides users with a comprehensive overview of town infestations and detection years for each invasive pest.
See also: Vermont Forest Health Program Launches Interactive Invasive Pest Status Map

U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) announced $1,549,891 in federal funding for the University of Virginia (UVA) and Virginia Tech to improve resources for the U.S. agricultural industry and rural communities. This funding was awarded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)'s Food and Agriculture Cyberinformatics and Tools (FACT) Initiative, which focuses on data-driven solutions to address problems facing the agricultural industry. Funding includes $499,952 for the University of Virginia to better understand America's agricultural commodity flows and their role in the spread of invasive species, which is important for food security and economic stability. This project will help provide policy makers with guidance to better address vulnerabilities in food systems.