Washington - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is allocating more than $4.7 million to Florida 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.
“Florida’s 47,400 farms and ranches span 9.7 million acres. In the last agricultural census, the state ranked first in the nation in production value for oranges, bell peppers, grapefruit, sugarcane, tomatoes and watermelons. Protecting Florida’s agricultural industry is critical," said USDA Under Secretary Jenny Moffitt. “These projects will help Florida 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, but not limited to:Since 2009, USDA has supported more than 4,800 projects and provided nearly $740 million in PPA 7721 funding. Collectively, these projects allow USDA and its partners to quickly detect and rapidly respond to invasive plant pests and diseases. These projects help our country maintain the infrastructure necessary to ensure disease-free, certified planting materials are available to U.S. specialty crop producers. 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.
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
