 Dear Stakeholders,
Each year, we have the honor of sharing the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services’ (APHIS) achievements through our Impact Report.
Despite facing many challenges, including the continued response to highly pathogenic avian influenza, APHIS ensured that our mission to protect the health and value of America’s agricultural and natural resources continued. Our work supports healthy livestock and poultry, thriving crops and forests, wildlife management, humane care for animals, safe biotechnology and global trade.
On behalf of our more than 8,481 employees, working in all 50 States, 4 territories, and more than 60 countries, I am pleased to share with you our 2024 Impact Report. Among the highlights, APHIS:
- Inspected and cleared 4.9 billion pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables from 19 countries before they were shipped to the United States.
- Protected American agriculture from harmful plant pests and foreign animal diseases by intercepting 289,855 prohibited agricultural items and 3,008 quarantine-significant pests during baggage inspections. These inspections involved more than 16.7 million passengers bound for the U.S. mainland from Hawaii and Puerto Rico.
- Collaborated with counterparts in the Americas to address emerging plant pest issues. With our counterparts in Canada, we worked cooperatively on the management of high priority pests under the U.S. and Canada Coordinated Safeguarding Framework, which provides a broad and holistic approach to safeguard North America against the threat of plant pests and diseases.
- Continued an emergency program to address nationwide detections of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). Since the outbreak began in February 2022, we have confirmed the virus in over 1,300 poultry premises across the nation and supported affected producers through depopulation, disposal, and indemnification programs.
- Confirmed the first detection of HPAI H5N1 in a dairy herd in March 2024, and subsequently identified, investigated, and responded to H5N1 detections in livestock in over 860 herds across 17 States. We issued two federal orders, implemented a producer support program, set up a voluntary monitoring and surveillance program for interested producers, and developed a national bulk milk testing strategy to help States protect the health of their dairy herds.
- Opened new market access for American agricultural exports, including U.S. rice to Ecuador, Texas grapefruit to South Korea, and California peaches and nectarines to Vietnam. APHIS also opened markets for U.S. live cattle, day-old chicks, and hatching eggs to Mozambique and beef and bone meal to Ecuador and Peru.
- Worked with regional partners in Central America to implement a multilateral response to the New World screwworm outbreak, increasing production of sterile flies weekly from 20 million to 90 million. These efforts, combined with rigorous surveillance and livestock inspections, protected U.S. borders from this devastating pest.
- Provided assistance to livestock producers on more than 123,000 occasions, including outreach and direct control activities to protect livestock from predation through a combination of techniques and tools. As much as possible, we responded using nonlethal methods like range riding, fladry, fencing, and husbandry practices.
- Partnered with Federal and State resource agencies, private organizations, and community groups on approximately 5,976 damage management projects that helped protect threatened and endangered bird species across 40 States, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
- Donated nearly 159 tons of deer, goose, and other meat - more than 1 million servings of protein for people in need - and more than 34 tons of meat for animal consumption to animal rehabilitation centers, zoos, and other facilities, making full use of this resource from wildlife damage management work.
- Took civil and administrative action to address alleged AWA violations, including opening 209 cases, issuing 134 official warnings, obtaining 19 administrative orders, and permanently revoking 16 other licenses to support AWA compliance and deter future violations.
- Continued supporting the Zoo and Aquarium All Hazards Partnership—which reached over 680 entities including animal facilities, professional and industry groups, private owners, veterinarians, and others in the exotic animal community—covering topics such as hurricanes, wildfires, SARS-COV-2, highly pathogenic avian influenza in zoos, and biosecurity and resilience for zoos and aquariums.
- Responded to 44 requests for confirmation that a plant met the criteria for exemption from regulation, within an average of 56 days from receiving the requests, including products involving grain, oilseed, fruit, vegetable, and cover crops. Ninety-eight percent of these products were developed by small- to medium-sized enterprises and public institutions.
- Performed with State agricultural officials more than 540 inspections of authorized field trials involving organisms developed using genetic engineering.
You can read about these and other APHIS accomplishments in the 2024 Impact Report.
Mike Watson APHIS Administrator
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