|
Making a Difference
NIFA Publishes Report on Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program
Since 2010, the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP) has served the needs of food animal veterinarians and stakeholders in animal agriculture across the nation by supporting veterinary educational debt repayment in return for veterinarians’ services in designated, high priority, shortage situations. In this time, the VMLRP has awarded nearly 800 food animal veterinarians with loan repayment assistance.
As one part of its programmatic support for VMLRP stakeholders, the program has produced a summary of its activities and accomplishments and the challenges facing the profession in the VMLRP Program Summary 2010-2022. This report provides an overview of the VMLRP and summarizes trends and activities of the program to respond to the needs of animal health officials, food animal veterinarians, food and fiber animal producers and interested stakeholders, and includes program highlights and accomplishments. Read more about the program’s accomplishments.
Veterinarian checking on dairy cattle. Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
|
|
Exploring Ag Biotech Careers with University of Connecticut 4-H
Developing professionals in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields is critical to ensuring a continuing pipeline to support the agricultural, food, and renewable natural resources sectors of the U.S. economy.
NIFA supports a variety of programs that prioritize educating the nation’s future professionals for these vital sectors of the economy. A University of Connecticut Extension program, supported by a program within NIFA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative program, is opening doors for young people in the state to pursue those types of careers.
Read more about one participant’s journey.
University of Connecticut 4-Her Zuzanna Rogowski at work on a project. Image courtesy of University of Connecticut Extension.
Nominations Being Accepted for Excellence in College and University Teaching in the Food and Agricultural Sciences
Launched in 1992, the National Awards for Excellence in College and University Teaching in the Food and Agricultural Sciences Program recognizes outstanding college professors of agriculture, natural resources, veterinary and human sciences.
The deadline for nominations is Monday, April 15. Educators can be nominated by using the "Teaching Awards Guidelines" and "Teaching Awards Nomination Form" found on the National Awards for Excellence resources page. Additionally, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities has created a webinar called "How to Create Successful Teaching Award Nomination Packets.”
A selection committee of nationally recognized teachers and scholars chooses two national recipients, two early career recipients, and two ‘teaching and student engagement’ recipients, as well as six regional awardees. Nominees are evaluated based on their ability as instructors, educational innovation, service to students, professionalism and scholarship.
|
|
|
New Software Boosts Accuracy of Tech to Measure Crop Health
A North Carolina State University (NCSU) team of researchers has developed a new tool that improves the accuracy of electronic devices that measure the color of a plant’s leaves to assess health. The new technology works by improving a sensor’s ability to account for variations in light that can influence how the sensor perceives color.
When researchers, growers or crop consultants are working with crops in fields, sunlight can affect the ability of these sensors to capture leaf color accurately. Specifically, glare can throw the sensors off.
“Our goal was to develop software that would allow users to more easily account for the ways in which glare from sunlight can change the ways that sensors capture the color of a plant’s leaves,” said Dr. Michael Kudenov, NCSU professor of electrical and computer engineering. “Previous tools that account for glare have been extremely complex and required a lot of computational power. Our approach is substantially less complicated.”
Read more about this NIFA-supported research.
Soybean field. Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
|
|
|
Update to USDA Entity-Scale Greenhouse Gas Methods Report Available
USDA has published a second edition of Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Agriculture and Forestry: Methods for Entity Scale Inventory. The report provides farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners with the methods and tools needed to assess the greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint of their operations. The 2024 report improves upon the methods outlined in the original 2014 report to increase their accuracy, provides new methods that allow users to better quantify the GHG benefits of additional management practices, and introduces several improvements to make the report more user-friendly. Read more and find a link to the report here.
|
|
 Helpful Hints to Understanding NIFA’s Funding Opportunities
New to NIFA funding opportunities? Or maybe you’ve been a NIFA grant recipient before. Either way, NIFA has online resources available for potential applicants to our programs. As the extramural research funding agency at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, NIFA has about 70 grant programs that advance agricultural research, education, and Cooperative Extension to solve societal challenges.
Read more to learn about the many resources available on the NIFA website.
|
|
|
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is committed to ensuring that its programs and services are accessible to all individuals, including individuals with disabilities and individuals with limited English proficiency. If you need a reasonable accommodation to participate in any NIFA event, please contact the appropriate Program staff no later than 10 days prior to the event. To find Program staff by event, please visit the NIFA Calendar of Events. NIFA Language access services, such as interpretation or translation of vital information, will be provided free of charge to limited English proficient individuals upon request. If you need interpretation or translation services please visit NIFA language services or contact Lois Tuttle, Equal Opportunity Specialist, at Lois.Tuttle@usda.gov or (443) 386-9488 no later than 10 days prior to the event.
NIFA’s mission is to invest in and advance agricultural research, education, and Extension that solves societal challenges. NIFA’s investments in transformative science directly support the long-term prosperity and global preeminence of U.S. agriculture. Keep informed about NIFA, USDA, our Land-grant and non-Land-grant university partners, and stakeholders with the NIFA Update. Read past issues online, sign up for email updates or follow us on X (formerly Twitter) @USDA_NIFA, #NIFAImpacts or LinkedIn @usda-nifa.
If you wish to submit a news item or information, send an email to NIFAUpdate.
USDA is an equal opportunity lender, provider, and employer.
|
|
|
|
|
