Safeguarding

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Safeguarding American Agriculture and Natural
Resources
United States Department of Agriculture Animal
and Plant Health Inspection Service Plant
Protection and Quarantine
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Our Mission
Safeguarding U.S. Agriculture and Natural
Resources

• To ensure an abundant, high-quality, and varied
  food supply
• To strengthen the marketability of U.S.
  agriculture
• To preserve U.S. ecosystems and protect against
  invasive species

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PPQs Goal
mitigating pest risks, domestically and abroad,
through exclusion, intensive surveillance, early
detection, and containment of pests and diseases
before they can spread.
Dr. Richard Dunkle PPQ Deputy Administrator
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Who We Are

• We are a diverse range of professionals dedicated
  to conserving, protecting, and enhancing American
  agriculture.
• From botanists to virologists, accountants to
  writers, were all part of a historic tradition
  and a challenging future.

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What We Do

• Keep foreign plant pests out of the United States
• Document the presence of plant pests within the
  United States
• Ensure safe agricultural trade by removing
  unjustified pest-related trade barriers
• Detect, control, or eradicate foreign plant pests

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Why We Keep Out Foreign Pests

• More than 6,500 nonnative species are established
  in the United States.
• More than 900 or 1/7 of these species are
  economically or environmentally harmful.
• Harmful nonnative species cost billions of
  dollars in control or loss of marketable goods.
• Harmful nonnative species affect agriculture,
  forestry, human health, and tourism.

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How We Keep Out Foreign Pests

• Establish risk-based import regulations and
  policies for agricultural commodities (e.g.,
  produce, plants, craft products)
• Inspect and treat agricultural commodities for
  pests in their country of origin prior to export
  to the United States
• At inspection stations, inspect propagative
  material imported into the United States, taking
  appropriate action when pests are detected

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How We Ensure Safe Agricultural Trade

• Establish import regulations and policies for
  goods imported into the United States
• Issue import and interstate movement permits for
  plant pests
• Review plant health certificates issued by
  exporting countries for imported goods
• Monitor trade of endangered or threatened species
• Issue plant health certificates for agricultural
  goods exported from the United States

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How We Detect, Control, or Eradicate Plant Pests
and Diseases

• Excluding foreign pests, when possible, is our
  goal.
• If barriers fail, early detection of the pest is
  the next best strategy.
• Early detection assures
• Faster and cheaper control
• Availability of more control strategies
• Greater possibility of success

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Elements of Pest Response Program

• Survey (Where are the pests?)
• Identification (What are they?)
• Regulation to prevent spread
• Bans movement of materials with a quarantine
• Restricts movement of materials through permits
• Control or eradication
• Host removal
• Pesticides
• Agricultural production practices
• Biological control
• Sterile insect release

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Some Ongoing Emergency Programs

• Karnal bunt
• Fungal disease of wheat detected in Arizona,
  California, and Texas
• Citrus canker
• Bacterial disease of citrus detected in Florida
• Exotic fruit flies
• Agricultural pests threatening more than 250 U.S.
  crops
• Asian longhorned beetle
• Wood-boring insect threatening the survival of
  hardwood trees

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Asian Longhorned Beetle

• Wood-boring insect native to China
• Hitch-hiked to United States in wooden pallets
  and crates
• Cause of destruction of more than
• 7,156 trees in New York City
• 1,770 trees in Chicago
• 461 trees in Jersey City, NJ

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PPQs Response to the Asian Longhorned Beetle
Outbreak

• Establish quarantines restricting the interstate
  movement of firewood and other host material from
  infested areas
• Identify beetle-infested trees
• Remove infested host trees and high-risk trees
• Treat noninfested, susceptible host trees

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Our Partners in Response

• U.S. Department of Agricultures Forest Service
• State Departments of Agriculture
• Local governments where infestations occur

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For More Information

• Please visit our Web site at http//www.aphis.usda
  .gov/ppq