The US Pork Center of Excellence will host a workshop on the newly released National Swine Nutrition Guide in conjunction with the JAM.

WASHINGTON, March 19, 2010 – Roger Beachy, director of USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), will host a webcast on Tuesday, March 23, 2010, at 2 p.m., to discuss opportunities for grants to be announced Tuesday, March 22 , under the Fiscal Year 2010 Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) competitive funding programs. He will also take questions.

WHAT: NIFA Director Roger Beachy discusses changes to the FY 2010 AFRI competitive funding opportunity.
WHEN: Tuesday, March 23, 2010
2- 3 p.m., EDT
WHERE/
HOW: The webcast can be viewed online at www.nifa.usda.gov/newsroom/webcast.html. To ask a question during the webcast, please use these instructions:

CALL-IN: (800) 857-5233
PASSCODE: USDA, given verbally
Trouble number (202) 720-8560

All callers using the above pass code will be placed in listen-only mode. Callers who want to ask a question will be given instructions. Phone lines for the Q&A portion will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Webcast viewers who do not have questions do not need to call-in to hear the webcast.

The application deadline for the 2010 Wilson G. Pond Appreciation Club International Travel Award is 11:59:59 pm CST on January 7, 2010. Travel applications can be made on the ASAS web site: http://www.asas.org/awards.asp.

Free, immediate and permanently available research results for all - that's what the open-access campaigners want. Unsurprisingly, the subscription publishers disagree. Zoe Corbyn weighs up the ramifications for journals, while Matthew Reisz asks how books will fare

The U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have completed legislative action on the 2010 Agriculture Appropriations Bill. On Oct. 7, the House approved the Conference Report on a vote of 263-162, and the Senate followed on Oct. 8, passing the measure on a vote of 76-22.

The $121.13 billion bill, which provides funding for the Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Farm Credit Administration, includes $23.3 billion in discretionary authority, a $2.7 billion increase over the fiscal year 2009 enacted level and $325 million above the president's request. While making specific and sensible budget cuts where feasible, the bill once again focuses on several key areas, such as overall public health issues; maintaining adequate food nutrition programs; investing in rural development; an increase in funding for agriculture research; strengthening animal health and marketing programs; and conserving natural resources.

Larry Berger, professor of animal science at the University of Illinois, has been named the Marvel L. Baker head of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Animal Science.

The $41 billion merger of Merck & Company with Schering Plough is hinging on the companies’ animal health assets. To win regulatory approval for the deal, the companies must divest animal health holdings of one or the other company, reports Reuters.

The companies are seeking bids for both Schering's Intervet business and Merck's stake in its Merial joint venture. Once they review the bids, the companies will decide which business to sell, according to the Reuters report.

It would likely be easier for Merck to sell its Merial business, which it co-owns with Sanofi-Aventis, rather than for Schering Plough to sell the extensive Intervet business. With Sanofi-Aventis already owning half of Merial, it’s likely Sanofi will buy the remaining share.

In a related animal health industry development, Pfizer and Wyeth are also divesting animal health assets to clear the way for their $68 billion merger. The report says Bayer AG, Boehringer Ingelheim and Novartis AG may be interested buyers for those assets.

Both the Merck-Schering and the Pfizer-Wyeth animal health asset divestitures are expected to be completed within the next several weeks.

Read the full Reuters report.

Source: Reuters