The Laying Hen and Turkey Research Program is designed to improve the efficiency and sustainability of laying hen and turkey production through integrated, collaborative research and technology transfer. Emphasis may be placed on laying hen and turkey disease prevention, antimicrobial resistance, nutrition, gut health and alternative housing systems under extreme seasonal weather conditions.
Overview
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is in the process of establishing the new Laying Hen and Turkey Research competitive grant program.
The Laying Hen and Turkey Research Program is designed to improve the efficiency and sustainability of laying hen and turkey production through integrated, collaborative research and technology transfer. Emphasis may be placed on laying hen and turkey disease prevention, antimicrobial resistance, nutrition, gut health and alternative housing systems under extreme seasonal weather conditions.
Authorization
7 USC Section 5925 of the FY2023 Omnibus Appropriations Bill provided $1,000,000 to NIFA for integrated, collaborative research and technology transfer in Laying Hen and Turkey production. NIFA plans to implement this program by supporting one or more integrated, collaborative research and technology transfer projects for improving the efficiency and sustainability of laying hen and turkey production.
Stakeholder Input
NIFA hosted a listening session on February 14, 2023, and collected stakeholder feedback through oral comments regarding all aspects of the Laying Hen and Turkey Research Program. NIFA also collected written comments until February 24, 2023. This program is designed to improve the efficiency and sustainability of laying hen and turkey production through integrated, collaborative research and technology transfer. As a new program for FY 23, stakeholder input is critical in the development of the Request for Applications to identify emphasis areas of particular importance.
NIFA is greatly appreciative of the time and comments shared by our stakeholders during the listening session and through written comments received by email.
Three hundred and thirty-eight interested parties attended the listening session. NIFA received 33 oral comments during the listening session and 9 written comments. Stakeholders providing comments included representatives of land grant universities, commodity boards, scientific laboratories, as well as individuals.
Stakeholder Comments Analysis
All feedback was transcribed and analyzed by manually grouping all submitted comments (written and oral) into themes. A word cloud was also created using word frequencies of all submitted comments. The results of this analysis are shown below. Stakeholders spoke on themes including disease prevention, collaboration, nutrition, welfare, gut health, alternative housing, and antimicrobial resistance. Disease prevention was the most mentioned topic of the listening session, with comments on the need for early detection, and the development of new vaccines and diagnostic assays. The importance of collaboration was also mentioned frequently, with comments focusing on the need to engage students and form partnerships, as well as ensuring technology transfer. Comments that did not fall into one of the seven themes were placed into “Other” category. This included comments on processing, as well as reproduction and breed diversity.
Webinar
Request for Applications
Laying Hen and Turkey Research Program Request for Applications was published on May 8, 2023. The closing date for submitting applications will be June 13, 2023.
A Recording of Laying Hen and Turkey Research Program Request for Applications Technical Assistance webinar is available to help the applicants to the program.
A live question and answer session has been scheduled for May 25, 2023, at 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm EDT. Please view this website for registration details and other information for the upcoming session.