aphis

Rodents cause millions of dollars in damages to field crops, stored grain and farm equipment each year. In addition, they are the major carrier for more than 60 diseases that are transmissible to humans, companion animals, and livestock.

In the new book titled, “Agricultural Production,” by Nova Science Publishers, Inc., Felix C. Wager (editor), researchers from the USDA and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) present a review of the latest information on rodent damage management as it relates to worldwide agricultural production. The review can be found here. 

In the sub-Saharan nation of Mali, Dr. Boubacar M. Seck is a leader in helping to prevent highly contagious and transmissible animal diseases. As a researcher, Dr. Seck is working with USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and local partners to help manage disease risk on farms and to prevent the spread of animal diseases to local and international markets. Dr. Seck’s main accomplishment has been his leadership in developing the West and Central Africa Veterinary Laboratory Network, which studies highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) and other transboundary animal diseases. For his work, USDA recently awarded a certificate of appreciation to Dr. Seck.

Just like a page out of a detective novel or the next episode of CSI, USDA-APHIS researchers at the National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) are using forensic science to help unravel the mystery behind bird-strikes. Between 1990 and 2008, more than 87,000 bird-aircraft collisions involving 381 different bird species were reported to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. The most common species struck by aircraft were gulls, doves and pigeons.

Arctic weather in the Midwest may mean an earlier start for ice fishing this year.  “Early ice fishing can be some of the best fishing for walleye, bigger game fish, and for a lot of species,” says Steve Avelallemant, fisheries supervisor for northern Wisconsin with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Whether anglers start early in the season or later, they need to take the same steps in winter that they do in the summer to prevent spreading viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS).  VHS is a virus that can infect more than two dozen fish species and can cause bleeding and bulging eyes.  VHS has been found in all the Great Lakes and some inland waterways.

On Friday, members from the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), as well as members of veterinarian organizations such as the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), joined at the Jefferson Auditorium in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the 250^th anniversary of the establishment of the first veterinary school in Lyon, France, in 1761.  FSIS is the largest employer of veterinarians worldwide and with APHIS at number two, it only made sense that USDA  acknowledge these individuals in a meaningful way. FSIS and APHIS held an opening ceremony and I was fortunate enough to deliver remarks on behalf of FSIS alongside Dr. Elisabeth Hagen, Under Secretary for Food Safety, Dr. Ron DeHaven, Executive Vice President, AVMA, and Dr. John Clifford, Chief Veterinary Officer, APHIS. This morning’s presentations may be found here.

Each year, APHIS protects millions of animals nationwide that are covered by the Animal Welfare Act (AWA).  The Act, and accompanying regulations developed by APHIS, set Federal standards of care for animals that are bred at the wholesale level, used in research, transported commercially, or exhibited to the public.  Under the law, APHIS has the authority and obligation to confiscate any AWA-regulated animal that is in a condition of unrelieved suffering.

By itself, it would have been great news when USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) recently announced the absence of golden nematode in the townships of Elba and Byron in Genesee County, New York, and removed these areas from regulation.  APHIS and the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets have been working together since 1944 on an aggressive survey, quarantine, and control program to combat one of the world’s most damaging potato pests from the State.  The success in these townships demonstrates the effectiveness and importance of these continuing cooperative efforts.

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service employees recently brought some holiday cheer to an unlikely group—basket weavers from the Rwanda Basket Company.

The Rwanda Basket Company provides training and tools to basket weavers in Rwanda. The Company helps to open overseas markets for the baskets and ensures a better profit for 400 weavers and their 3,000 dependents. The money provides education and improves conditions for those living in one of Africa’s poorest countries.

While many USDA Forest Service employees spend their summers working as Smokejumpers fighting wildfires in the west, they in turn spend their falls in the east working as Beetle Busters, helping the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) combat the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB).

Backyard poultry owners will find colorful chickens and turkeys, as well as ducks, parrots and some grand geese among a 12-month spread of domestic, wild and exotic birds in the 2011 Backyard Biosecurity calendar.  They’ll also find a year’s worth of solid information to help them raise healthy birds and keep them free from disease.

The calendars are widely distributed throughout the country by USDA, particularly through extension service.  “In Arkansas, we distribute the calendars at many poultry activities,” said Dr. Fred Dustan Clark, director of Agricultural Cooperative Extension Service in the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science at the University of Arkansas.  “We use them at our pullet chain (when chicks are delivered to 4H students) all over the state, when we do seminars for 4H, at Farm Days and we put them in feed stores,” Clark added.