CBP and the trade community work together to secure imports and exports from a multitude of threats. Agriculture threats in the cargo environment are a risk to crops, livestock, the food supply and ultimately, the American economy. CBP cargo inspections cover pests and diseases, contraband, wood packaging materials, soil contamination, regulated garbage and hitchhikers. CBP agriculture specialists conduct hundreds of thousands of inspections each year, target millions of shipments and perform hundreds of hours of outreach to the trade community to protect the United States in the cargo environment.
National Agriculture Release Program (NARP)
On January 8, 2007, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) implemented the National Agriculture Release Program (NARP). NARP provides a methodology for evaluating high-volume agriculture imports that are low-risk for the introduction of plant pests and plant diseases into the United States.
NARP began prior to the creation of CBP as the Border Cargo Release (BCR) program on the southern border. BCR expedited the entry of high-volume, low-risk commodities entering from Mexico. NARP expands the BCR program to include some agricultural commodities from Mexico as well as other foreign countries.
To be eligible for NARP, commercial shipments in the same inspectional unit (e.g., container, truck, or vessel compartment) must contain a single commodity or a mix of commodities on the approved list for NARP. These commodities may be inspected at reduced rates.
Commercial shipments of fresh, frozen, processed and semi-processed fruits and vegetables from specific countries may be eligible for NARP. Provisions for animal products are not included in the program.
Approval to include an agricultural commodity in NARP is determined by the commodity and its country of origin and is applied at ports nationwide.