Dec 28, 2020 The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is celebrating the agency’s many successful efforts over the past year. “This has been a year like no other,” said Greg Ibach, undersecretary for marketing and regulatory affairs at the USDA. “Even with the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, APHIS’ employees continued to provide great service and support for the country’s farmers, ranchers, and citizens. Protecting American agriculture requires constant vigilance and effort, and APHIS employees found safe, effective, and creative ways to accomplish our mission this year.” In addition to continuing 100% of our mission-critical work uninterrupted throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the most significant accomplishments during 2020 included eradicating an outbreak of avian influenza in North and South Carolina, preventing spread to other areas and limiting the overall impact on the poultry industry; publishing the final SECURE rule, the first-ever major revision of USDA’s biotechnology regulations, which streamlines and modernizes our system; establishing the first-ever robust foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccine bank; preserving $56 million value of trade; protecting 192 million acres from feral swine damage; and assisting with the response to the COVID-19 pandemic including establishing confirmatory testing services for SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) in animals and quickly setting up a National Incident Coordination Center to support producers impacted by COVID-19 closures and shutdowns at meat processing plants.