USDA awards $15.3 million to protect animal health

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is awarding more than $15.3 million to projects that will enhance prevention, preparedness, early detection, and rapid response to the most damaging diseases that threaten U.S. livestock.

USDA is awarding this funding through the 2018 Farm Bill’s National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program (NADPRP). The 68 projects will help address gaps in animal disease outbreak emergency response, increase producer’s use of gold-standard biosecurity measures, train producers and responders to carry out animal disease outbreak response activities, help States and Tribes develop and exercise animal disease emergency response plans, and help producers who are impacted by animal disease outbreaks recover quickly.

Some of the swine-related projects include:

• Evaluating Biosecurity Risks from Feral Swine and Potential Solutions on Commercial Swine Farms in Arkansas - University of Florida
• Veterinary Continuing Education to Enhance Early Foreign Animal Disease Detection and Reporting in Non-Commercial Swine - University of Minnesota
• Optimizing Swine Sample Collector Network: A Comprehensive Analysis of Sampler Distribution, Logistics, and National Animal Health Laboratory
  Network Capacity - North Carolina State University
• Developing and Exercising an Operational Plan for Foreign Animal Diseases Using Certified Swine Sample Collectors - Minnesota Department of Agriculture
• Advancing Biosecurity & Traceability to Wisconsin Pig Farmers - Wisconsin Pork Association
• Effectiveness of Trench Composting for Ohio Producers - Ohio Pork Council