Farm Compliance

"President Obama understands that to remain globally competitive in the livestock business and to continue to produce safe, nutritious products from livestock requires the application of cutting-edge genetics and breeding programs," Vilsack said. "Investing in good basic and applied research will help pinpoint genetic differences that result in superior animal products of the best quality for the consumer."

Successful application of this research will reduce the number and severity of animal disease outbreaks and decrease dependence on the widespread use of antibiotics.

The Fiscal Year 2008 projects were awarded through USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) National Research Initiative Animal Genome Program which seeks to develop sound, practical, science-based knowledge that can be shared with other researchers, farmers and consumers of U.S. animal products. These awards also support the training of the next generation of scientists by providing support for 25 post-doctoral fellows and 15 graduate students.

The 2008 Farm Bill did not renew the NRI, but did authorize creation of the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI). More information about AFRI can be found online at www.csrees.usda.gov/funding/afri/pdfs/program_announcement.pdf.

Fiscal Year 2008 animal genome grants were awarded to:

Auburn University, $725,000

University of California, Davis, $550,000

University of California, Davis, $10,000

University of Southern California, $711,884

University of Delaware, $125,000

University of Georgia, $449,575

Iowa State University, $10,000

Iowa State University, $909,439

Iowa State University, $749,345

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, $449,421

USDA, Agricultural Research Service (ARS)/Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Md., $625,000

University of Maryland, $906,098

USDA, ARS/Avian Disease and Oncology Laboratory (ADOL), Mich., $875,000

USDA, ARS/ADOL, $448,552

University of Minnesota, $549,999

University of Minnesota, $447,633

University of Missouri, $125,000

Texas A&M University, $313,516

Texas A&M University, $125,000

Utah State University, $629,471

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, $585,613

Washington State University, $450,000

University of Wisconsin, Madison, $10,000

University of Wisconsin, Madison, $401,651

Through federal funding and leadership for research, education and extension programs, CSREES focuses on investing in science and solving critical issues impacting people's daily lives and the nation's future. For more information, visit www.csrees.usda.gov.