Cooperator Funding 

Provided nearly

$180 million to State 

departments of agriculture, 

universities, and other 

entities for pest surveys, 

research, and other 

critical work

Budget

$648,518,692

Annual appropriations (51.5%), 

Plant Protection Act

Section 7721 (10.9%), 

Agriculture Quarantine 

Inspection user fees (29.9%), 

export certification fees (3%), 

reimbursable overtime

fees (2.3%); trust funds (2%) 

Commodity Credit Corporation 

emergency funds (0.4%)

Facilities

228 field offices, 

7 laboratories, 16 plant 

inspection stations, 

3 training facilities

Workforce

1,952 permanent 

employees, 316 term 

employees, 561 seasonal 

employees

Plant Protection and Quarantine By the Numbers, Fiscal Year 2022

Inspected and cleared 2.82 

billion pounds of fresh fruits 

and vegetables from 19

countries before they were 

shipped to the United States 

and oversaw a systems 

approach for the safe import 

of 2.04 billion pounds of 

avocados in Mexico

Certified or recertified 

282 treatment facilities, 

including 72 facilities in 

Mexico, 6 facilities in Central 

America, 15 facilities in 

the Caribbean, 13 facilities 

in South America, and 2

facilities in Asia

Worked with the U.S. 

Department of Defense to 

inspect 39,216 shipments 

of personal goods and 

1,273,286 pieces of cargo 

from 18 countries before 

they returned stateside

Inspected and certified 

plant and plant product 

shipments; conducted 

technical negotiations to 

open, maintain, and 

expand export markets; 

and facilitated the release

of held shipments—an

added value of approximately 

$417.5 million

Helped expand the Global 

Electronic Phytosanitary 

(ePhyto) Solution, which 

makes the exchange of 

export certificates fast, 

efficient, and fraud-resistant; 

sent 292,000 ePhytos to 

50 trading partners and 

received 203,000 ePhytos 

from 60 trading partners 

Completed 278 risk 

analyses associated with 

imports, exports, invasive 

pest threats, and program 

requirements to support 

safe trade and protect 

American agriculture 

Positioned more than 50

U.S. experts on international 

and regional expert and 

focus groups to advance 

key standard-setting and 

global initiatives on seeds, 

climate change, ePhyto, 

fruit flies, forestry, and other 

important topics

Processed 1.2 million Lacey 

Act declarations, helping 

to combat illegal trade of 

protected plant species

We fought pests offshore before they could reach the United States 

and helped U.S. agriculture thrive in the global marketplace.

Read more about the impact of PPQ’s work: www.aphis.usda.gov/plant-health

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender. APHIS-23-028 | Issued June 2023

Around 

the 

World
Issued nearly 37,000 import 

permits and regulatory 

guidance letters for plants 

and plant products and 

responded to over 11,400

inquiries about imports and 

plant health permits

Cleared 26,176 shipments 

containing over 2.20

billion plant units and 

525,898 kilograms of 

seeds, intercepting 1,702

quarantine pests at plant 

inspection stations

Continued to implement 

risk-based sampling at 

U.S. ports of entry to focus 

inspections on higher 

risk shipments, reducing 

inspection times on the 

southern border by 77 

percent

Upgraded the advanced 

molecular technology used 

at our Plant Inspection 

Stations to detect the 

plant pathogen and USDA 

Select Agent, Ralstonia 

solanacearum race 3 biovar 

2, in imported geranium 

cuttings to prevent its 

entry and protect domestic 

agriculture 

Identified approximately 

109,000 pests found during 

U.S. Customs and Border 

Protection inspections of 

cargo, mail, and express 

carrier shipments and took 

quick action to prevent 

those of concern from 

entering the United States

Issued 43,918 emergency 

action notifications and 

monitored more than 

61,176 treatments to reduce 

pest risks on incoming cargo

Intercepted over 392,100 

prohibited agricultural 

products and 603

quarantine pests during 

baggage inspections of 

approximately 14 million 

passengers bound for the 

U.S. mainland from Hawaii 

and Puerto Rico

Conducted 48,548

inspections of agricultural 

commodities before they 

left Hawaii and Puerto 

Rico for the U.S. mainland; 

conducted 6,779 treatments 

to mitigate pest risks 

We kept potentially damaging plant pests out of the country.

Removed nearly 25,000 acres 

from Karnal bunt-regulated 

areas in Arizona

Ended 1 Mediterranean 

fruit fly quarantine and 2

Oriental fruit fly quarantines 

in California; ended the 

Mexican fruit fly quarantine 

in Brownsville-Harlingen, TX, 

after 33 hard-fought months

Worked with State and 

industry partners to reduce 

boll weevil captures by 93 

percentin the Lower Rio 

Grande Valley; worked with 

Mexican government partners 

to reduce boll weevil captures 

by 96 percent in Northern 

Tamaulipas 

Conducted 326 plant pest 

surveys with cooperators in 

50 States and 4 Territories 

and coordinated the response 

to about 50 species that were 

new or re-introduced into the 

United States

Monitored grasshopper and 

Mormon cricket populations 

in Western States and 

treated 91,642 rangeland 

acres—which protected over 

224,000 acres—to control 

outbreaks and protect 

valuable forage and at-risk 

agricultural production areas

Shipped 750,000 sterile 

navel orangeworm moths for 

release over production fields 

to protect tree nut crops

Reared and released more 

than 515,891 stingless 

wasps to State and Tribal 

cooperators for release at 

176 sites across 125 counties 

in 28 States to combat the 

emerald ash borer

Allocated more than $70

million to support 372

projects under the Plant 

Protection Act’s Section 

7721 program as part of 

a nationwide effort to 

strengthen the country’s 

infrastructure for pest 

detection, surveillance, and 

mitigation, as well as protect 

the U.S. nursery system 

Provided $7.5 million to 

support 28 National Clean 

Plant Network projects in 

16 States and Puerto Rico 

that diagnose, clean, and 

distribute disease-free 

stock of fruit trees, grapes, 

hops, berries, citrus, sweet 

potatoes, and roses to 

nurseries and growers

Provided a total of $8.77 

million for projects in Texas 

and California that help 

give citrus growers proven, 

science-based strategies to 

combat citrus greening

Issued more than 656,000

Federal phytosanitary (plant 

health) certificates directly 

or through authorized State 

and county cooperators 

to aid the export of U.S. 

plants and plant products to 

approximately 200 trading 

partners

Cleared through our 

quarantine facility 721

normally prohibited highrisk cultivars and germplasm 

from more than 15 different 

plant genera, making safe 

new plant varieties available 

to U.S. importers and 

producers

Seized 339,408 pounds of 

prohibited agricultural items 

valued at over $2.1 million

through product recalls, from 

retail stores and internet 

sales, and during express 

courier package inspections, 

helping to protect U.S. 

crops and livestock from 

potentially devastating and 

costly plant pests and foreign 

animal diseases

We fought back against the spread of invasive plant pests that 

threatened our Nation’s crops and forests. 

At 

the 

Border

Across 

the 

Nation