Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey Program

USDA APHIS PPQ / GA Dept. of Agriculture

A primary objective of the CAPS program is to safeguard our nation's food and environmental security from exotic pests that threaten our production and ecological systems. The Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey (CAPS) provides a cooperative agreement mechanism to fund domestic surveys of harmful or economically significant plant pests and weeds that have eluded first-line inspections at our ports-of-entry. These surveys are necessary to safeguard our Nation's agricultural and natural resources by detecting early pest infestations or introductions. Core funding is provided to each cooperating state department of agriculture for the purpose of data management, yearly committee meetings, and CAPS activity coordination and communication. A strong domestic pest detection infrastructure is vital to ensuring that scientifically valid, current and reliable pest/disease survey data are available on a continuing basis.

The strengthening of our pest detection and response infrastructure and capabilities. The benefits to the citizens of the State of Georgia include, but are not limited to:

1. prevent loss of natural resources
2. improve state capabilities in pest detection and bio-security
3. reduce restrictions on international shipments of plants or plant products
4. establish and maintain cooperative relationships with USDA and DHS at our ports of entry
5. maintain an operational state-level task force to address issues relating to exotic and invasive pests of agriculture and natural resources.