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(Media contact: NIFA Director of Communications Faith Peppers, faith.peppers@usda.gov, (816) 745-0959)
USDA Invests $17.6M to Protect the Health and Welfare of Agricultural Animals
WASHINGTON, Sept. 4, 2024 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced today an investment of $17.6 million to advance agricultural research that protects the health and welfare of agricultural animals. These projects include high-priority research on highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) and African swine fever (ASF). These projects are part of USDA’s “One Health” efforts, an integrated, collaborative approach to address issues that impact the health of people, plants, animals and our ecosystems.
“Protecting the health and welfare of agricultural animals is integral to ensuring a safe, sustainable, resilient and ethically-sound food system,” said NIFA Director Dr. Manjit Misra. “Healthy livestock are more productive and less likely to harbor and spread diseases that can affect humans. In addition, properly managed livestock systems help maintain biodiversity and sustainable land use.”
The awards include $12.7 million for 27 projects funded through NIFA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative’s (AFRI) Diseases of Agricultural Animals program and $4.8 million for 10 projects funded through AFRI’s Welfare of Agricultural Animals program.
The AFRI Diseases of Agricultural Animals program focuses on maintaining healthy agricultural animals to ensure a safe and adequate food supply. The program supports research in whole-animal health, including disease prevention and control.
Several projects focus on research related to vaccines that could mitigate the spread of HPAI and ASF. HPAI is a major threat to animal health, trade and the economy worldwide. ASF is a deadly pig disease that spreads rapidly and affects domestic and wild swine. While not a threat to human health, the virus could devastate America’s swine industry and food supply if it entered the United States.
Examples of the 27 funded projects include:
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University of Georgia researchers aim to develop mass vaccination strategies against a prevalent HPAI subtype. The potential benefits extend beyond avian influenza, paving the way for similar studies on other respiratory viruses affecting poultry and livestock.
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists will design and evaluate ASF engineered vaccine antigens. This work will ultimately lead to development of a vaccine against ASF to aid in disease control and swine health.
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University of Missouri researchers plan to develop safer and more effective swine influenza vaccines, with the potential to reduce both animal and human influenza infections, and block potential zoonotic transmission from swine to humans.
The AFRI Welfare of Agricultural Animals program supports projects that evaluate current animal agriculture production practices and/or development of new or enhanced management approaches that safeguard animal welfare and adaption to climate change.
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Purdue University researchers will investigate the most effective indicator traits and breeding strategies to enhance heat tolerance in ducks. Scientists plan to develop guidelines that outline optimal management and breeding strategies to improve heat tolerance in poultry—offering a potential long-term solution to climate change impacts on poultry production globally.
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University of Vermont scientists will investigate how early-life calf management affects long-term behavioral development, emotional states and physiological stress in dairy cattle. The results will benefit the dairy cattle industry by increasing longevity and improving animal welfare and care standards.
This research investment underscores USDA’s commitment to strengthening our food supply while protecting human, animal and environmental health.
This Fiscal Year 2023 investment is also part of NIFA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), the nation’s leading and largest competitive grants program for agricultural sciences.
NIFA is building a better future by nurturing innovation in the food and agricultural sciences and cultivating equitable change in communities across the nation. Through investment in science as a solution to our greatest challenges, USDA NIFA collaborates with partners to drive research, education and Extension — improving lives, supporting livelihoods and sustaining the planet. In FY 2023, NIFA’s total investment was $2.5 billion.
Visit X: @USDA_NIFA; LinkedIn: USDA-NIFA. To learn more about NIFA’s impact on agricultural science, visit www.nifa.usda.gov/impacts.
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