The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is allocating more than $2.3 million to North Carolina as part of a nationwide effort to strengthen the country’s infrastructure for pest detection, surveillance, and mitigation, as well as protect the U.S. nursery system. USDA is providing more than $70 million in funding this year to support 350 projects in 48 states, Guam, and Puerto Rico. The Plant Protection Act Section 7721 gives USDA the authority to provide this funding.“North Carolina agriculture contributes more than $95 billion to the local economy and employs 17.5% of the State’s workforce. Protecting North Carolina’s agricultural industry is vital,” said USDA Under Secretary Jenny Moffitt. “These projects will help North Carolina protect its resources and its contributions to our national agricultural economy.”
These funds will support projects covering a range of plant health protection activities including, but not limited to:
- $431,000 to support the National Clean Plant Network plant stocks for multiple crops;
- $273,187 to continue developing a data-driven platform to monitor Phytophthora plant diseases;
- $226,585 to support invasive-pest risk monitoring and analysis;
- $155,886 to continue developing predictive modeling to estimate target pests’ risk through their ability to survive in new habitats;
- $148,560 to improve the existing Eradication Analysis & Decision Support tool by adding information modules to the application; and
- $136,112 to determine climate suitability and potential climate change impacts for high-risk pests.
View the fiscal year 2023 Plant Protection Act’s Section 7721 spending plans on the USDA, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service website: www.aphis.usda.gov/ppa-projects.
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