Federal Cooperative Agreement Summary

The Arizona Department of Agriculture (AZDA) received a $150,000 Cooperative Agreement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) for the 2026 Arizona Nursery and Retail Plants Pest Survey, effective July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. Under this agreement, AZDA will conduct comprehensive year-round pest surveillance and inspection services targeting Arizona's nursery and retail plant industry. Key deliverables include targeted inspections of nursery premises and stock at high-risk facilities with moderate to high importation volumes, visual inspections of nursery stock up to twice annually for detection of regulated pests, and quarantine holding inspections of high-risk plant materials prior to release for sale.

The survey specifically addresses detection and monitoring of invasive and exotic pests including phytophagous snails (brown garden snail and giant African snail), rose rosette disease, Japanese beetle, brown marmorated stink bug, box tree moth, spotted lanternfly, emerald ash borer, Asian long-horned beetle, and various exotic scales. AZDA will also maintain a year-round California red scale trapping program in Yuma County nurseries using white panel traps with monthly servicing and lure replacement, and will conduct red imported fire ant surveys using meat-bait grid pattern methodology at high-risk nursery locations. All suspected pest specimens will be submitted to AZDA's Office of Plant Services entomologist for identification, supporting disease prevention, market access protection, and the sustainability of Arizona's commercial nursery export industry.