USDA announces $15.8M in funding for disease preparedness, response
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is awarding $15.8 million to 60 projects led by 38 states, land-grant universities, and industry organizations to enhance the country’s ability to rapidly respond to and control outbreaks of animal disease.
The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is awarding this funding through the 2018 Farm Bill’s National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program (NADPRP).
“Consistent access to safe, healthy, and affordable food is a critical need for all consumers,” said Jenny Lester Moffitt, undersecretary for the USDA’s Marketing and Regulatory Programs, in a March 15 announcement. “These Farm Bill–funded preparation activities are vital to helping us safeguard U.S. animal health, which in turn allows U.S. producers to continue to feed our country and the world.”
This year, NADPRP funding supports projects focused on enhancing prevention, preparedness, detection, and response activities for the most damaging diseases that threaten U.S. livestock.
Projects will help states develop and practice plans to quickly control disease outbreaks, train responders and producers to perform critical activities for outbreak response, increase producer use of effective and practical biosecurity measures, educate livestock owners on preventing disease and what happens in an outbreak, and support animal movement decisions in animal disease outbreaks, among others.
Some of the projects funded this year include the following:
- National Incident Command System capacity advancement, Michigan Department of Agriculture on behalf of the Multi-State Partnership for Security in Agriculture
- On-demand training for diagnosticians of foreign animal disease for animal disease response, Texas A&M AgriLife Research
- Targeted learning modules for the poultry industry on highly pathogenic avian influenza, University of Minnesota
- Extending a between-farm model of transmission of African swine fever to estimate the necessary number of sample collectors in a highly swine-dense region, North Carolina State University
- A biosecurity rapid-response mobile decontamination and disinfection gate for animal disease outbreaks, Maryland Department of Agriculture
- Preparedness for emergency response to foreign animal diseases and mass livestock mortalities, North Dakota State University
The 2018 Farm Bill provided NADPRP funding as part of an overall strategy to help prevent animal pests and diseases and reduce the spread and impact of potential disease incursions with the goal of protecting and expanding market opportunities for U.S. agricultural products. Over NADPRP’s four years, the USDA has provided a total of more than $22 million to support more than 120 projects.
The USDA website provides more information about APHIS programs authorized by the 2018 Farm Bill.