State Of Washington Department Of Agriculture

State Of Washington Department Of Agriculture is a U.S. state government agency that acts as a recipient of federal cooperative agreements and formula grants for food safety inspection, animal disease control, invasive species management, pesticide enforcement, and emergency food assistance programs. The agency competes exclusively in full-and-open federal grant space with no set-asides; it is a structural child of the Washington Department of Public Instruction.

WSDA's federal footprint is heavily concentrated in regulatory and surveillance work. The Food and Drug Administration dominates by dollar value, funding human and animal food safety inspection work. Since July 2025, FDA has awarded WSDA a $997,483.78 definitive contract for human food inspection services in Washington state (completion September 2026), following prior FDA awards for animal food inspection ($855,068.28, completion March 2027) and human food inspection ($933,070.07, completed September 2025). These contracts represent core mission work: WSDA operates an ISO 17025-accredited laboratory and delivers comprehensive food safety testing including pathogen detection, National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) product testing, and whole genome sequencing maintenance under a $690,000 FDA cooperative agreement running through June 2030.

USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) drives volume—398 awards across the portfolio, primarily cooperative agreements for pest and disease surveillance. WSDA conducts detection and delimitation surveys for invasive species including gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar), spongy moth, spotted lanternfly, Asian giant hornets, and vineyard snails across Washington's marine ports, agricultural regions, and nursery operations. Recent APHIS awards include $664,190 for gypsy moth detection surveys (completion April 2027), $666,948 for spongy moth eradication in Pierce and King counties (completion March 2027), and $251,458 for invasive species awareness campaigns targeting spotted lanternfly and Asian longhorned beetle (completion June 2027). WSDA also administers animal disease traceability (ADT) programs, maintaining electronic identification platforms and distributing 100,000–150,000 electronic ID tags to livestock producers; a $158,738 APHIS cooperative agreement (completion March 2027) funds ADT infrastructure and stakeholder outreach.

USDA Agricultural Marketing Service funds specialty crop competitiveness and food assistance. A $4.27 million specialty crop block grant (completion September 2028) supports 19 sub-awarded research, education, marketing, and cross-functional projects for winter peas, hops, apples, pears, walnuts, and stone fruit. Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) formula grants dominate by count: WSDA received $1.936 million (October 2025–September 2026) and $1.64 million (October 2025–September 2026) in SNAP TEFAP administrative funding, with requirement to pass through 40% of funds to sub-recipients including food banks, community action councils, and tribal organizations across remote and rural Washington. The Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) awarded $573,967 (completion September 2026) to support low-income elderly; WSDA sub-awarded to six nonprofit food providers.

EPA Region 10 supports pesticide regulatory enforcement under the Consolidated Pesticide Enforcement Cooperative Agreements program. A $1.065 million formula grant (completion September 2026) funds compliance monitoring, applicator certification and training, worker protection, water quality initiatives, and endangered species habitat protection. USDA Forest Service provided $248,960 (completion September 2030) for noxious weed management with emphasis on Tree-of-Heaven control and Spotted Lanternfly preparation, plus $225,000 (completion December 2029) for biocontrol agent development and early detection rapid response outreach.

Recent activity shows moderate decline: 49 awards in 2022, declining to 11 awards in 2026 year-to-date (incomplete year). Thirty-two awards worth $1.9 million face completion in the next twenty-four months, representing moderate recompete exposure concentrated in APHIS pest survey and food assistance agreements. WSDA operates under four named parent contract vehicles—all BPAs with Bureau of Land Management and related agencies—carrying minimal potential value (<$50 thousand combined).

WSDA holds no corporate subsidiaries and operates as a direct state agency. Its federal work is characterized by long-term cooperative relationships with USDA agencies for biosecurity and food safety, EPA for pesticide compliance, and FDA for laboratory certification and regulatory alignment. The agency performs work statewide with administrative oversight at Natural Resources Building, Olympia, Washington, and operational presence at marine ports, agricultural counties, and field sites across Washington supporting national agricultural protection and food security objectives.