The FAI’s first International Symposium on Precision Systems and Data Analysis in Animal Agriculture brought data and animal scientists together to showcase technologies that’ll help meet the challenge of feeding a growing world population.[/spotlight-box]

North Carolina is a recognized leader in food-animal production. Agriculture contributes $84 billion to the state’s economy and generates 663,200 jobs. More than 60% of that impact stems directly from food-animal systems — and that’s not counting offshore marine fisheries and plant-based agribusiness that supplies feedstocks.

At North Carolina State University, we’re helping North Carolina become the world leader in food-animal sciences by coordinating new research with existing, proven infrastructure. The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) have partnered to lead this interdisciplinary initiative. As our work grows, we’ll enlist the support of our partners at NC State and other land grant universities, government and industry.

To encourage collaborative research in animal science, CALS and CVM will fund three competitive Strategic Enrichment Research Grants. Led by faculty members from both colleges, each grant will function as a separate investigation into the production health of swine, cattle and poultry.

Areas include:

• Developing a system for reducing Porcine Reproductive Syndrome virus in reproductive sows.
• Developing antibiotic use guidelines to mitigate antibiotic resistance in microbes and ensure food safety.
• Developing a project to aid Ethiopian poultry producers to enhance livestock production.

We have the resources, partners and skilled personnel to shape the state’s food-animal industry’s growth.

North Carolina Food Animal Initiative: A Feasibility Study

The report entitled The North Carolina Food Animal Initiative: A Feasibility Study was jointly commissioned by NC State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Veterinary Medicine to evaluate core competencies in the animal and poultry sciences, veterinary medicine and associated disciplines, and to study the feasibility of building upon our capabilities by establishing a Food Animal Initiative (FAI). The report’s goal is to provide a path forward for North Carolina to grow its number-one industry.

Partnering with industry leaders, we’re bringing interdisciplinary sciences together to solve grand challenges and bring new ideas to market faster.

Celeste D. Brogdon

celeste_brogdon@ncsu.edu

(919)515-7857