The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recently published The State of Food and Agriculture 2021. The report comes after the COVID-19 pandemic showed vulnerability within the agrifood system globally.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published From Farm to Kitchen: The Environmental Impacts of U.S. Food Waste, to inform policymakers, researchers, and the public about the environmental impact of food waste. The report includes benefits to reduced food waste as well as knowledge gaps.

The bill is designed to direct the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to initiate the process of holding Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) hearings within six months to provide an opportunity for producers to have a seat at the table when any potential changes in how Class I milk prices are calculated is discussed.

“The federal government has shown, time and time again, that when it’s given the resources needed to accomplish the impossible, there’s not much it cannot do,” DeGette and Upton said in a press release. By creating ARPA-H, we will be bringing together some our nation’s greatest minds to help find cures to these devastating diseases.

A bipartisan letter from more than 70 members of Congress was sent to President Joe Biden regarding the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The letter urges President Biden to pursue a declaration from Mexican President López Obrador that Mexico will follow the biotech provisions established in USMCA.

During the height of the pandemic, it was revealed that over 59,000 meatpacking and processing workers contracted COVID-19, and at least 269 died. PAMWA would provide protections for meatpacking workers along with systemic reforms, such as creating a fair market that allows independent farmers, ranchers, and local food systems to succeed.

The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has issued a final rule modifying the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) regulations to include a requirement for a contingency plan for the handling of animals during an emergency.

The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) recently announced over $16.3 million to 64 different projects with states, universities, and other partners for animal health protection.

The estimated breeding value (EBV) of an animal measures its genetic merit. For calculating EBVs, pedigree and genomic information are jointly used in a procedure called single-step genomic best linear unbiased prediction (ssGBLUP). Genetic evaluations report each EBV with its reliability, which measures how accurate the breeding value estimation was.

Current research examined Lycium barbarum polysaccharides (LBP) for combating LPS-induced inflammatory responses in primary bovine mammary epithelial cells. We uncovered a preventive role of LBP in reducing detrimental effects induced by LPS including inhibition of NF-κB and MAPK along with peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ) activation.

A major goal in animal agriculture is to improve the nutritional value of animal products. One area of focus in the beef cattle industry is to use supplemental selenium to improve the antioxidant abilities of muscle and liver tissue, which may reduce the cholesterol levels of muscle tissue, resulting in a healthier product.

Penetrating captive bolt is a commonly used and humane method for euthanizing swine that weigh less than 200kg.

Higher demand for nutrition beyond the basic requirements of the animal has increased in the pet food industry; specifically, using pre-and probiotic ingredients to influence digestive health.

The progression of genetic selection for reduced carcass backfat has increased over the past 20 years, causing an altered phenotypic relationship between energy intake and carcass backfat thickness.

Due to stress during the post-weaning period, morbidity and mortality can be significantly increased. These stressors can be environmental, nutritional, physiological, and immunological changes.

Feeding pharmacological levels of Zn in the early nursery phase has become a common practice in the swine industry to alleviate post-weaning diarrhea. However, antimicrobial resistance is a concern when feeding these levels.

Hybrid rye has shown minimal impact on growth performance and carcass characteristics when used to replace barley and wheat. The current study's objective is to evaluate the use of hybrid rye as a replacement for corn in diets for growing and finishing pigs without impacting growth performance, carcass characteristics, or meat quality.

In this recent Journal of Animal Science study, researchers evaluated how cassava, a high amylopectin starch, impacted the performance and other metabolic parameters of growing pigs. Pigs were fed either a corn-soybean meal LP diet, a corn-cassava-soybean meal LP diet, or a cassava-soybean meal LP diet.

This was the first study of record to evaluate the effects of hydroxy-selenomethionine as a dietary supplement for boards on raw semen characteristics and quality of seminal doses, as well as the reproductive performance achieved when used for artificial insemination.

The negative impacts of stress on gastrointestinal tract barrier function can result in compromised animal growth and health; aspirin is known to cause mucosal injury, leading to increased gut permeability and tight junction damage and, in turn, can be used as a model to study leaky gut in cattle.