News
APHIS $16 million to protect animal health
Farm bill funding to strengthen and protect animal health is being released by the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Jenny Lester Moffit tells Brownfield Ag News the more than $16 Million dollars will fund 64 projects with states, universities and other partners.
She says 14 of those projects are for African Swine Fever prevention, including, “Biosecurity planning, education for both the swine community as well as veterinarians, preparedness exercises and then, of course, also diagnostic tests both in the lab as well as in the field.”
There’s also funding for sheep, poultry and cattle disease prevention, “Some of the projects that are being funded on how to safely manage cattle and sheep that graze on public lands in the event of foot and mouth disease outbreaks, for instance. And then a lot of preparedness also on the poultry supply chain, working with the poultry industry on both, of course, avian influenza, high-path avian influenza, and New castle disease.”
This is the third year USDA has released farm bill funds for animal health protection partnerships – for a total of $22.1 Million dollars.
