USDA Invests $17.6 Million to Protect Health and Welfare of Livestock

Wed, 11 Sep 2024 15:55:31 GMT

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) and African swine fever (ASF) are two high-priority research areas that will be funded through a $17.6-million investment by USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to protect the health and welfare of agricultural animals.

“Protecting the health and welfare of agricultural animals is integral to ensuring a safe, sustainable, resilient and ethically-sound food system,” NIFA Director Manjit Misra said in a release. “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.”

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. 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, USDA explains. 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,” USDA says.

Examples of the 27 funded projects include:

• 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.

• 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.

• 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, the release says.

• 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.

• 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.

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USDA Awards $14.4 Million in Farm Bill Funding to Protect Animal Health

Tue, 01 Dec 2020 19:38:43 GMT

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is awarding $14.4 million to 76 projects with states, universities and other partners to strengthen animal health programs.

From increasing practical livestock biosecurity measures to advancing rapid depopulation and disposal abilities during high-consequence animal disease outbreaks, the funding will support endeavors to protect animal health in the U.S. According to a USDA release, the funding will also fund projects to enhance early detection of high-consequence animal diseases and improve emergency response capabilities at National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN) veterinary diagnostic laboratories.

“We continue to use our Farm Bill funds to increase our capabilities and prepare for potential foreign animal disease incursions,” USDA Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Greg Ibach said in the release. “Our consultation board and leaders in animal health and laboratory diagnostics provided recommendations for the type of projects we would fund, to make sure we were targeting these funds where they can make the most impact. Our partners across states, laboratories and industry alike will benefit from the projects we are funding today.”

This is the second year of funding from the 2018 Farm Bill as part of an overall strategy to help prevent animal pests and diseases from entering the country and reduce the spread and impact of potential disease incursions. Last year, APHIS provided $10.2 million to fund 44 projects.

This year’s funding will support:

National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program
$9.3 million will support 46 National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program (NADPRP) projects that will address critical livestock biosecurity and large-scale depopulation and carcass disposal concerns in all major livestock industries across all regions of the U.S. These projects will be led by state animal health authorities in 16 states,14 land-grant universities and 2 industry/veterinary organizations.

> 24 projects will focus on livestock biosecurity
> 22 projects will focus on large-scale animal depopulation and carcass disposal in animal disease outbreak response events
> 12 of the projects are national in scope
> 7 of the projects have a regional scope
> 27 projects focus on state-specific issues
National Animal Health Laboratory Network
$5.1 million will help fund 30 National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN) projects to be led by NAHLN laboratories in 21 states. The projects will focus on early detection of high-consequence animal diseases and improve emergency response capabilities at NAHLN veterinary diagnostic laboratories. In addition, some of the projects are aimed at improving diagnostic testing for high concern diseases, including African swine fever, classical swine fever, foot-and-mouth disease and avian influenza.

African Swine Fever

USDA Invests $17.6 Million to Protect Health and Welfare of Livestock

USDA Awards $14.4 Million in Farm Bill Funding to Protect Animal Health