USDA’s $70M boost to combat agricultural pests

Jan 15, 2025
By Farms.com

Funding aims to protect crops from invasive species

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is injecting more than $70 million into agricultural protection through the 2008 Farm Bill’s Plant Protection Act, Section 7721 program for Fiscal Year 2025.

These investments will fund 357 projects across the U.S., including Guam and Puerto Rico, designed to enhance the nation's defenses against plant pests and diseases.

The projects, managed by universities, federal agencies, and Tribal organizations, focus on safeguarding the U.S. nursery system and improving pest detection and response capabilities.

Jenny Lester Moffitt, Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, highlighted the initiative’s goals, remarking, “These projects will help in the fight against invasive plant pests and diseases, protecting growers and creating more export opportunities for American products.”

Specific initiatives include $5.8 million for detector dog teams, research and outreach for sudden oak death, and enhanced pest detection surveys in major fruit-producing states.

The USDA also plans to allocate $10 million for quick responses to emergent invasive pest threats like the spotted lanternfly and Asian longhorned beetle.

Since 2009, the USDA has supported thousands of projects and provided substantial funding to tackle invasive plant pests and diseases, demonstrating a long-term commitment to the health of American agriculture.

To explore more about these initiatives, visit www.aphis.usda.gov/ppa-projects.

Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.