U.S. Department of Agriculture: Agricultural Research Service, Lincoln, Nebraska
Date of this Version
9-14-2017
Citation
J. Anim. Sci. 2017.95:4194–4195 doi:10.2527/jas2017.1902
Abstract
In 2010, the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) launched the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Food Security Challenge Area program. The goal of this program was to support integrated research, extension, and education projects directed at increasing the agricultural production of plants and animals (Mirando et al., 2012) needed to feed a burgeoning global population that is expected to be almost 9.8 billion people by the year 2050 (United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, 2017). One program area in the 2010 AFRI Food Security Challenge Area request for applications (RFA) focused on increasing production efficiency in livestock through funding of integrated research, extension, and education project grants that fostered collaboration of scientists and educators working in the field of genetics and genomics with those in other disciplines, including animal nutrition, health, and reproduction. Animal-focused AFRI programs to be offered over the next 2 yr were also described. In 2012, the AFRI Food Security Challenge Area RFA solicited grant applications for the “Translational Genomics for Improved Fertility of Animals” program, and NIFA subsequently awarded 4 grants totaling US$10,125,583 to project directors originally located at the University of Nebraska (D. C. Ciobanu), the University of Missouri (J. F. Taylor), Texas A&M University (P. J. Pinedo), and Washington State University (T. E. Spencer).
Comments
U.S. government work.