APHIS Extends Comment Period on Strategic Plan Framework

Jul 04, 2022

In response to requests, stakeholders will have an additional 30 days to share their thoughts on the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) strategic plan to guide the agency's work over the next 5 years. Comments must be received by July 31, 2022. APHIS appreciates insights from all stakeholders and is looking forward to reviewing and considering these insights as we finalize the new strategic plan. We expect to finalize and publish the new strategic plan this fall and will post it on the APHIS website.

The strategic plan framework is a summarized version of the draft plan and provides highlights including the mission and vision statements, core values, strategic goals and objectives, and trends or signals of change we expect to influence the agency's work in the future.

Specifically, we are seeking insight on the following questions:

Are your interests represented in the plan?
Are there opportunities for APHIS to partner with others to achieve the goals and objectives?
Are there other trends for which the agency should be preparing?
Are there additional items APHIS should consider for the plan?

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Video: There’s a Whole Barn Buried Under This Field Now

There's old hog barns under that field now. The old hog barn site on the farm has been sitting there for decades, and this is the week it finally came out: concrete pad, burn pile, charred lumber, all of it loaded into a CAT 725C rock truck and buried in a pit we dug back in the timber.

Tork's been waiting his whole life to drive one of these, so he gets the keys to a 50,000 pound rock truck and I ride shotgun. The excavator loads, the dozer clears the timber, the drone shows the whole site from above, and by sundown there's nothing left of the old place but a smooth patch of dirt. It's a weird feeling erasing something that was here before either of us, but the farm has to keep moving.