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Cover photo: Early detection of foreign plant pests and

weeds minimizes agricultural production costs and resultsin an abundant and affordable supply of food and plantproducts for domestic and export markets. (The appleorchard image was taken by USDA Agricultural ResearchService [ARS] photographer Scott Bauer. The picture ofthe false codling moth, which came from<http://www.forestryimages.org>, was taken by the TertiaGrové Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Crops.)This publication supersedes Program Aid No. 1710, “PlantProtection and Quarantine: Detecting Plant Pests andWeeds Through a National Survey Program,” which waspublished in April 2002 and reprinted in September 2004.Issued July 2005

United States Department of AgricultureAnimal and Plant Health Inspection ServiceProgram Aid No. 1830The Cooperative Agricultural Pest SurveyDetecting Plant Pests and Weeds Nationwide

f foreign pests

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 (ARS photo

The U.S. Department of Agriculture(USDA) prohibits discrimination in allits programs and activities on thebasis of race, color, national origin,sex, religion, age, disability, politicalbeliefs, sexual orientation, or marital orfamily status. (Not all prohibited basesapply to all programs.) Persons withdisabilities who require alternativemeans for communication of programinformation (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’sTARGET Center at (202) 720–2600(voice and TDD).To file a complaint of discrimination,write USDA, Director, Office of CivilRights, Room 326–W, WhittenBuilding, 14th and IndependenceAvenue, SW, Washington, DC20250–9410 or call (202) 720–5964(voice and TDD). USDA is an equalopportunity provider and employer.
has become a proactive management tool used

to prepare for plant health emergencies andstrengthen offshore pest-exclusion programs. Asian soybean rust (Phakopsora pachyrhizi),

a

fungal disease naturally introduced into theSoutheastern United States in the fall of 2004,offers a good example of how the target list canbe used proactively. When the disease was first detected in northern Brazil in 2002, APHISimmediately began work on emergencypreparedness and response guidelines for itsinevitable spread to U.S. soybean productionareas by windborne spores. Therefore, when the disease arrived in the country, U.S. farmersand agricultural authorities were prepared to deal with it.

Management of a National Plant Pest Database and Survey ToolsThe National Agricultural Pest InformationSystem (NAPIS), which has a Web-based interface, collects data to help plant health officialsmake policy and management decisions in theevent of pest incursions, evaluate market-accessbids for U.S. exports, and justify quarantinemeasures to exclude potentially harmful foreignorganisms.Utilizing data-collection devices, such as personal digital assistants and global positioning systemunits, CAPS pest surveyors collect climatology,environmental, and pest-specific information in aState database. Software such as the IntegratedSurvey Information System then integrates thesurvey information into the national database,which currently maintains records on more than4,800 different pests and 1.4 million individualrecords on insects, fungi, weeds, mollusks, andbiological control organisms.In addition to managing national pest-distributiondata, CAPS is at the forefront of developingstate-of-the-art survey and predictive modelingtools. The North Carolina State University/APHISPlant Pest Forecast System (NAPPFAST), anInternet-based modeling tool, utilizes weather,

soil, and climate information to predict when andwhere a particular pest might establish itself inthe United States. CAPS sponsored the development of NAPPFAST in 2002 and has since usedit extensively to guide survey efforts for plant diseases such as soybean rust.

Supporting Exports of U.S.Agricultural CommoditiesAimed at increasing the free flow of trade andeliminating the potential for countries to usepests as artificial barriers to trade, CAPS surveydata support the development and expansion ofexport markets by identifying pest-free regions.The establishment of pest-free regions allowsthe continued export of commodities from a particular area within a country if it can demonstratethat the area has been historically free of a particular pest, even if the pest is established in surrounding areas.Such an event occurred when Pennsylvania officials discovered an outbreak of plum pox virus—a destructive disease of stone fruits—in October1999. CAPS program data proved that the disease was isolated to four Pennsylvania countiesand kept the entire State, and perhaps the entire

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Since the discovery of plum pox—a nonnative viral disease of stone

fruit—in 1999, CAPS surveyors have sampled more than a million

trees and pieces of fruit looking for the virus. Intensive surveys were

conducted in Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, South

Carolina, California, and Pennsylvania, but the disease has been

found in only four Pennsylvania counties. (APHIS photo by R. Anson

Eaglin.)

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