No People No Permits

APHIS Staff Reductions Could Delay Permitting Process

Large scale staff reductions are underway in the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). The agency, responsible for protecting and promoting American agricultural health, expects to lose more than a quarter of their employees. The task of maximizing core mandated services and eliminating inefficiencies for an agency who has its hand in agricultural market expansion, identifying and preventing the spread of invasive pests and diseases, and operates at the center of global agricultural communications has proven complex.

What Does the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service Do?

Last year the APHIS issued 663,000 federal certificates which played a part in plant and plant product exports to 200 trading partners.  The agency aided in negotiating the opening and expansion of markets amounting to a value of $459 million in trade deals.  They issued 365,000 certificates of health for animal and animal product exports and licensed 1,029 facilities to handle animal exports. Last year they also built new trade deals between the United States and Mozambique, Ecuador, Pero, South Korea and Vietnam. APHIS assisted in streamlining supply chain logistics along existing trade routes effectively reclaiming $55 million in loss of goods due to shipping delays.

Beyond facilitating healthy trade relationships, APHIS donated over 150 million tons of wild game meat to families in need. They worked alongside Mexico and South American countries to combat screwworm and HPAI outbreaks.  They intercepted 289,855 plant pests before they crossed into the United States at baggage claims. And, they have long played crucial roles in quickly identifying disease, facilitating support for pest and disease management and assisting farmers in securing compensation for crop or animal losses.

Staff Shortages at APHIS Lead to Bottlenecks

Even from this concise list it is difficult to determine where APHIS can feasibly scale back without creating a food safety risk or a staff shortage that ends up undermining efficiency timelines. Fewer employees absorbing more work, and in some cases, less experienced employees taking on complex assignments could create bottlenecks of all sorts. 

The HPAI labor force has been hit hard by staff cuts forcing the department to slow down and scale back their efforts to identify and contain the spread of the flu. When success is tied to the pace at which outbreaks can be confirmed and spread of the virus can be minimized, pressing pause could impact the health of millions of birds and our food system. It's just one example of a bottleneck that could ripple into food supplies. APHIS deployed 17% of their labor force last year to combat fruit flies in California jeopardizing produce supplies, screwworms in Mexico and farms working to control the spread of HPAI. These employees were supported by research labs personnel and financial department staff able to quickly allocate emergency funding to combat problems across the country.

Downsizing could also affect the flow of information. APHIS is a many spoked wheel made up of laboratories, checkpoints, policy and supply chain experts, and personnel on the ground interacting with farms, ranches and agricultural facilities responsible for safely moving commodities across borders. With fewer people to fill all of these positions communication could happen at a slower rate. Data collection, strategic planning to mitigate the spread of disease or invasive species , and trade negotiations that call for experts from multiple facets of APHIS could take much longer than what American businesses have become accustomed to.

Securing import and export permits for goods is yet another concern. Will there be enough employees left to keep churning out permits? And if not, will it do damage to our trade deals already in place?  In 2024 APHIS inspected 4.9 billion pounds of produce for shipment to 19 different countries and added to the number of USDA approved facilities for handling animals and animal products intended for global markets.  Food security relies upon precise turnaround times. If cargo sits too long in port it runs the risk of becoming spoiled and can accrue additional storage fees. Businesses accustomed to 30-40 day permit processing times who now have to wait more than 60 days to have cargo cleared for export could lose the money they stood to gain in the trade deal.

Exactly how many people it takes to keep APHIS projects operating safely and efficiently is yet to be determined. Despite layoffs and early retirement agreements, APHIS aims to recruit back employees on paid leave until their termination at the end of September hoping that they do not have to table HPAI research projects or abandon screwworm initiatives completely. They aim to buy time to prove these positions are necessary to food security in the United States and for our global trade relationships. The great shake up is forcing agencies like the APHIS to prioritize projects in ways they have not had to in recent years. Perhaps issuing export permits ranks higher than fruit fly research, but will other nations want our agricultural products in the future if we can’t prove that they are free of disease in a timely fashion?