The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is allocating more than $1.3 million to Idaho as part of its effort to strengthen the nation’s infrastructure for pest detection and surveillance, identification, and threat mitigation, and to safeguard the U.S. nursery production system. Overall, USDA is providing more than $70 million in funding this year to support 372 projects in 49 states, Guam, and Puerto Rico. USDA provides this funding under the authority of the Plant Protection Act Section 7721.
“Idaho is the third-largest agricultural state in the West and has nearly 25,000 farms and ranches—producing 185 different commodities. Protecting Idaho’s agricultural industry is critical,” said USDA Under Secretary Jenny Moffitt. “These projects will help Idaho protect its resources and contribute to keeping our nation’s agricultural economy strong.”
These funds will support projects covering a range of plant health and pest mitigation activities, including:
- $782,844 to support potato cyst nematode research in the state;
- $188,646 to develop tools to detect Anguina agrostis and Anguina tritici and identify new anguinid nematodes;
- $250,000 to support the Nez Perce Tribe’s survey for noxious, invasive weeds and the development of biological controls; and
- $105,159 to protect the U.S. potato industry against exotic viroid pathogens impacting the potato trade.
View the fiscal year 2022 Plant Protection Act’s Section 7721 spending plans on the USDA, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service website: www.aphis.usda.gov/ppa-projects.
