USDA Highlights APHIS-CBP Conference on Strengthening their Agriculture Mission
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued a press release on the recent "Success through Partnership" conference jointly held by USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
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The purpose of the conference was to update agricultural stakeholders on the progress of APHIS/CBP activities to strengthen the delivery of the agriculture mission.
Attendees were also updated on the efforts of the Joint Agency Task Force1 and the newly established Federal-State Agricultural Quarantine Inspection (AQI) Partnership Council.2
Update on Joint Task Force Actions To Date
According to USDA, the joint task force has already taken action that will have a significant impact on the AQI program, including (partial list):
creation of the AQI Partnership Council in January 2008 that includes state plant and animal health officials and will monitor and support progress on ten action plans and serve as a forum for innovation and improvement;
development of joint performance measures and collection of data on all major pest and disease pathways which will help track trends on each pathway and measure the overall effectiveness of the AQI program and DHS' risk-based systems in identifying passengers, vehicles and cargo that are not in compliance when approaching ports of entry;
revision of the guidelines for civil penalties for violating the Plant Protection Act to help ensure that USDA and DHS use common standards when issuing penalties;
working together on a transparent financial tracking system for AQI user fees that, among other things, will track appropriated funds used by both agencies. This will improve accountability and help ensure that AQI funding lines up with AQI activities.
1In April 2007, APHIS and CBP established a joint task force and undertook a review to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the agricultural safeguarding program and to evaluate the impact of the government restructuring on the agriculture mission. (In 2003, the port of entry agricultural inspection function, along with certain APHIS employees, were transferred from APHIS to CBP.) (See ITT's Online Archives or 10/19/07 and 09/20/07 news, 07101905 and 07092045 2, for BP summaries related to the joint task force.)
2In January 2008, the AQI Partnership Council, a new alliance of federal and state agencies responsible for agriculture inspection which will be monitoring the APHIS-CBP joint task force's action plan steps, held its inaugural meeting. (See ITT's Online Archives or 02/08/08 news, 08020805, for BP summary.)
USDA press release (No. 0118.08, dated 05/02/08) available at http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?contentidonly=true&contentid=2008/05/0118.xml