APHIS Awards $15.3M to Fight Livestock Diseases

In April, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced the awarding of more than $15.3 million to projects that will strengthen prevention, preparedness, early detection, and rapid response to the most damaging diseases threatening U.S. livestock.

APHIS is funding 68 new projects during the federal fiscal year 2025 (FY 2025) through the 2018 Farm Bill’s National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program (NADPRP).

“These projects will provide producers, veterinarians, and States with tools to better control, treat, and recover from foreign animal disease outbreaks,” APHIS Administrator Michael Watson said in the statement. “These efforts directly support USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins’ efforts to ensure farmers, ranchers and producers have the support they need to keep feeding, fueling, and clothing America.”

Leading the projects are two dozen state departments of agriculture, five tribal entities, 35 universities, three livestock organizations, and one federal partner.

The funded projects are meant to fill gaps in emergency response plans during animal disease outbreaks and include the following: increase producer use of gold-standard biosecurity measures, train producers and responders in animal disease outbreak response, support states and tribes in developing and exercising animal disease emergency response plans, and help producers impacted by animal disease outbreaks recover quickly.

Some of the APHIS-funded NADPRP projects FY 2025 include the following:

• Targeted training for dairy workers during highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI, more specifically avian influenza type A H5N1) outbreak, University of California-Davis
• Foot-and-mouth disease emergency vaccination response full-scale exercise, Nebraska Department of Agriculture
• Preparedness for New World screwworm, Texas A&M University
• Evaluating biosecurity risks from feral swine and potential solutions on commercial swine farms in Arkansas, University of Florida
• Enhancing animal disease traceability during a disease outbreak in Ohio, Ohio Department of Agriculture
• Southwest tribal farmer-rancher animal disease response outreach and education program, Southwest Indian Agricultural Association
• Capacity building to improve biosecurity and reduce disease spread in diversified small-scale farms in California, University of California-Davis
• Creating a biosecurity blueprint for safeguarding horses, poultry, and livestock, University of Kentucky
• Understanding influenza A virus infection pathways and assessing mitigations to reduce transmission risk on infected poultry premises, University of Minnesota  
• Assessing and improving biosecurity at equine welfare organizations, American Horse Council