APHIS Announces $16M In Funding To Protect Animal Health

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced Dec. 9, 2021, that it is awarding more than $16.3 million to 64 projects with states, universities, and other partners to strengthen programs to protect animal health in 2021.

The funding supports projects focused on enhancing vaccine distribution plans and supporting animal movement decisions in high-consequence animal disease outbreaks, delivering outreach and education on animal disease prevention and preparedness, and developing point-of-care diagnostic tests to rapidly detect foreign animal diseases. The funding also supports projects to enhance early detection of high-impact animal diseases and improve emergency response capabilities at veterinary diagnostic laboratories that are part of the National Animal Health Laboratory Network.

In one project recently funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the American Association of Equine Practitioners will work to increase biosecurity and disease prevention in the horse industry.

The 2018 farm bill provided funding for these programs as part of an overall strategy to help prevent animal pests and diseases from entering the United States and to reduce the spread and impact of potential disease incursions. This is the third year that APHIS is providing this Farm Bill funding.

APHIS is awarding $7.6 million for 36 projects through the National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program. In one project, the American Association of Equine Practitioners will increase biosecurity and disease prevention in the horse industry by identifying current gaps in biosecurity knowledge and developing and tailoring outreach efforts to audiences at horse races, horse shows, farms, stables, trail rides, and horse events. In another project, the University of California-Davis is working with two Hispanic-serving community colleges to develop a new curriculum on biosecurity in animal agriculture that will integrate with existing programs.

APHIS is awarding $4.4 million for 21 projects through the National Animal Health Laboratory Network. In one project, the University of Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory will improve the preparedness of swine producers and veterinarians against African swine fever by providing the resources they need to produce quality laboratory submissions.

APHIS is awarding $4.3 million for seven joint NADPRP-NAHLN projects. Among these are projects to support development or evaluation of point-of-care diagnostic tests for the virus that causes African swine fever, for avian influenza virus and avian paramyxovirus type 1, and for the virus that causes foot-and-mouth disease.