Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) published a new 5-year strategic plan. It incorporates input we received from stakeholders on the strategic framework–a summarized version of the plan that we published in June 2022. The plan includes six strategic goals.
They focus on:
- Protecting agriculture from plant and animal diseases and pests;
- Positioning the Agency’s workforce to better meet current and future challenges;
- Delivering solutions that reduce the impacts of zoonotic and emerging diseases, and ecosystem changes, such as climate change;
- Expanding safe trade;
- Managing wildlife diseases; and
- Promoting the welfare of animals.
APHIS also released a strategic foresight report. It examines 10 societal, environmental, and technological trends and several future scenarios that the Agency must be prepared to navigate.
They include:
- Rise in security threats.
- Escalation of climate change threats.
- Political, geographical, and economic division.
- Increasing dependence on data analytics.
- Advances in science and technology.
- Changes in production practices.
- Evolving perceptions around animal welfare and wildlife in human society.
- Globalization.
- Rising global health threats.
- The changing federal workforce.
The strategic plan and foresight report are available on the APHIS website at: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/banner/aboutaphis/SA_Overview
[Source: USDA APHIS 25 April 2023]