The U.S. Department of Agriculture is offering $75 million in funding for the eradication and control of feral swine through the Feral Swine Eradication and Control Pilot Program. It represents a joint effort between the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The 2018 Farm Bill included this new pilot program to help address the threat that feral swine pose to agriculture, ecosystems and human and animal health.
NRCS will direct up to $33.75 million of the allocated FSCP funds toward partnership efforts to work with landowners in identified pilot projects in targeted areas. Applications are being accepted through August 19, 2019, for partners to carry out activities as part of these pilot projects in select areas of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas. APHIS has determined that these states have among the highest feral swine population densities and associated damages in the country.
Pilot projects will consist broadly of three coordinated components:
- Feral swine removal by APHIS.
- Restoration efforts supported by NRCS.
- Assistance to producers for feral swine control provided through partnership agreements with non-federal partners. Projects can be one to three years in duration.
“The projects selected for funding will allow APHIS and NRCS to collectively reduce the damage and disease caused by one of the most destructive and formidable invasive species in the United States,” said APHIS Administrator Kevin Shea. NRCS is now accepting proposals from non-federal partners to provide landowner assistance for on-farm trapping and related services as part of the pilot projects described above. NRCS will provide funding for these services through partnership agreements. The funding limit for a single award is $1.5 million. Awardees will be required to provide at least 25 percent of the partnership agreement budget as a match to NRCS funding.
