Plant pest risk analysis in APHIS

APHIS’ Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) is charged with safeguarding U.S. agriculture and natural resources against the entry, establishment, and spread of economically significant pests and facilitates the safe trade of agricultural products. To support this mission, PPQ relies on their Plant Pest Risk Analysis (PPRA) unit to produce risk analyses and other science-based products to help make sound policy and operational decisions. The documents PPRA produces help PPQ address exotic pests in a variety of ways, including notifying PPQ of offshore pest threats, preparing information should those pests be detected in the U.S., documenting potential pathways, surveying for exotic pests, responding to new pest detections, and providing products to support existing programs. The purpose of this presentation is to highlight how PPRA uses risk analysis to bridge the gap between science, policy, and operations.