The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced the availability of USD 1.2 million (EUR 1.1 million) worth of funding to support the development of environmentally and economically sustainable aquaculture in the country.
This funding is available through the Aquaculture Research Program, administered through USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), which focuses on projects that directly address major challenges to the US aquaculture industry.
Projects supported by this program are intended to help improve the profitability of the U.S. aquaculture industry, reduce the U.S. trade deficit, increase domestic food security, provide markets for U.S. produced products, increase domestic aquaculture business investment opportunities and provide more jobs for rural and coastal America.
Although U.S. aquaculture production has shown growth in the past decade, the country currently still has an estimated USD 12 billion (EUR 10.6 billion) trade deficit in seafood products, and imports more than 90 percent of the seafood it consumes.
Applied research in genetics, disease, production systems, and economics is needed to develop practical solutions that will facilitate growth of the U.S. aquaculture industry.
Since 2014, the Aquaculture Research Program has awarded close to USD 2.5 million (EUR 2.2 million) in funding.
Applications for this year's funding are due 17 May.
