1.

This Cooperative Agreement award from the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) under the Plant and Animal Disease, Pest Control, and Animal Care Federal Grant Program (CFDA 10.025) provides $114,539.00 in funding to the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services to support oversight and inspection activities at nurseries that ship regulated articles to prevent the spread of the Imported Fire Ant (IFA) to unregulated areas. The cooperator's inspectors will visit regulated establishments at least twice annually to inspect for the presence of IFA, with a goal of performing a similar number of inspections, issuing/renewing compliance agreements, and dedicating personnel hours as in the previous reporting period. This award is intended to directly benefit growers, livestock producers, nurseries, and the general public in states where IFA is not currently established, as well as nurseries in Florida that rely on interstate commerce.

Purpose

The funds provide support for oversight by state inspectors at nurseries that ship articles from the regulated area for the presence of imported fire ANT to unregulated areas outside of the quarantine boundary. 2.

Activities

The cooperator oversees a number of activities essential to ensure compliance with USDA regulation, including inspecting establishments, establishing and reviewing compliance agreements, reviewing invoices, observing and monitoring regulatory treatments and providing assistance to help establishments understand the importance of the regulation and providing guidance when requested. They also help investigate any situations involving detections of IFA on florida nursery stock moved out of the quarantine. 3. Deliverables and expected outcomes: the cooperator's inspectors will visit, at least twice annually, all regulated establishments under compliance agreement to inspect for the imported fire ANT. During the previous reporting period of this project, the cooperator performed 1 ,671 regulatory inspections, issued or renewed 611 compliance agreements and dedicated 2,476 personnel hours associated with these activities. Similar numbers are expected during the remainder of this year's project. 4. Intended beneficiary(IES): the project is designed to prevent the spread of the imported fire ANT to states where IT is not currently established. This will directly benefit growers, livestock producers, nurseries and the general public that operate and reside in those states. In addition, nurseries in florida also benefit by maintaining their compliance with the quarantine restrictions in order to continue to engage in interstate commerce. 5. Subrecipient activities, if known or specified at the time of award: N/a.