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USDA and Partners Deliver Lasting

Protections with Farm Bill Funding

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By Chelsea Carey, Acting Veterinary Services NADPRP Project Coordinator and

Antonia Florio, Veterinary Services Outreach and Communication

November 2023

Benjamin Franklin was right when he said, ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound

of cure.’ Nothing could be truer when it comes to protecting agriculture. The 2015

outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza reminded us just how costly foreign

animal disease outbreaks are for America’s livestock growers and the nation’s food

supply.

Bolstering Early Detection and Response

Capabilities

Following that outbreak, U.S. animal agriculture organizations and State

departments of agriculture called for a comprehensive program that would fund

projects to enhance animal disease prevention, early detection, and response

capabilities. They also sought to strengthen cooperation between industry, State,

Federal organizations, and others, including veterinarians and agricultural

universities. A few years later, Congress answered this call when they established

the National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program (NADPRP) in the
2018 Farm Bill.

“Everyone who worked on the initial framework hoped to implement a program that

would have lasting positive impacts on our ability to prepare for and respond to

foreign animal disease in livestock and poultry,” said Alecia Naugle, APHIS

Veterinary Services Associate Deputy Administrator. “NADPRP has lived up to that

expectation. It is a flagship program for APHIS.”

Today, partners use NADPRP funds to generate new ideas to rapidly control

outbreaks and mitigate their impact. At the 3-day, NADPRP-funded “Regional Ruckus

2023” workshop shown here, animal disease emergency response experts from 34

States, 3 regional animal disease response organizations, 7 universities, and 6

Federal agencies took part in discussions and exercises to identify challenges and

best practices for planning and responding to animal disease emergencies.

Rapid Progress

NADPRP started small but has grown quickly. In the program’s first year, APHIS

invested $5 million to start 36 training and exercise projects for animal agriculture

sector emergency responders. Today, we have awarded almost $40 million to

support 180 projects in 9 high-priority areas for animal disease preparedness. These

projects are boosting local, regional, and national capabilities to prevent, prepare

for, and respond to animal disease outbreaks.

“Collaboration is at the core of NADPRP,” said Julie Wallin, Veterinary Services Farm

Bill Programs Director. “APHIS staff foster discussions with State and Federal

agencies, Tribes, universities, livestock and veterinary organizations, and others to

make sure the funds are directed to projects that can move the needle on current

animal disease outbreak concerns.”

NADPRP In Action

NADPRP funding is helping to advance a wide range of projects from online

education programs to research into foreign animal disease prevention. Here are

just a few examples of NADPRP funds in action:
Developing Vaccination Distribution Plans for a Foot and Mouth

Disease (FMD) Outbreak

Building an Effective Communications Network

From 2020 to 2022, NADPRP provided $49,500 to Oklahoma State University to train

extension specialists to support local response efforts during an outbreak and stand

up an animal disease communication network across Oklahoma. OSU also developed

a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) that trained educators and Army

reservists to support local response efforts in the event of an outbreak. During the

2022 HPAI outbreak, the DART team used their network to quickly convey

information from State and USDA authorities to State extension agents so they could

field questions from poultry owners.

Promoting Biosecurity

From 2021 to 2023, NADPRP provided $1.3 million to the National Milk Producers

Federation, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the American Association of

Equine Practitioners, and the American Sheep Industry Association. Together, these

groups are leading projects that increase biosecurity practices among livestock

owners and raise awareness about the importance of strong farm biosecurity to

prevent devastating animal disease outbreaks.

Looking to the Future

Although we’re excited by what we’ve accomplished in 5 short years, we’re not

stopping here. To mark NADPRP’s 5th Anniversary, we’re going to share stories that

celebrate our partner’s most successful innovations, programs, and activities. We

hope these stories will inspire our partners to achieve even more.