Washington - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is allocating more than $2.3 million to North Carolina 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.“North Carolina agriculture and agribusiness-including food, forestry and fiber-contribute $95.9 billion to the state's economy. Protecting North Carolina’s agricultural industry is vital," said USDA Under Secretary Jenny Moffitt. “These projects will help North Carolina 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. They also 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
