The texas a & M agrilife research unit will develop a national poultry industry training program to provide specialized education to state and federal regulatory animal health officials through…

Texas A&M AgriLife Research received a $199,832 Cooperative Agreement award from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) under the Plant and Animal Disease, Pest Control, and Animal Care program (CFDA 10.025), effective November 1, 2025, through October 31, 2027. The award funds the development and delivery of a National Poultry Industry Training Program that provides specialized one-week short courses to state and federal regulatory animal health officials. The program is designed to enhance emergency management competencies and foreign animal disease (FAD) preparedness among animal health officials while improving their understanding of current poultry industry practices and operations.

The primary service deliverable is the provision of science-based training courses that ensure state and federal regulatory officials maintain current knowledge of the poultry industry. This training supports the development of evidence-based decision-making protocols for controlling animal disease outbreaks in alignment with commercial poultry industry practices. The award builds upon a previous APHIS-funded project and directly benefits poultry producers by strengthening the regulatory infrastructure and emergency preparedness capabilities of the agricultural community in response to potential foreign animal disease threats.

The texas a & M agrilife research unit will develop a national poultry industry training program to provide specialized education to state and federal regulatory animal health officials through one-week short courses. The program supports the overall goal of enhancing emergency management competencies of state and federal animal health officials, protecting the well-being of the U.S. Poultry industry, and increasing capabilities, capacity, and readiness of the agricultural community in the face of foreign animal disease (FAD). This project builds on a previous nadprp project (fain AP22VSSP0000C015 "poultry agribusiness training for development of an enhanced emergency preparedness infrastructure partnership between the US commercial poultry industry and animal health officials"). Poultry producers will benefit from this project because IT will ensure that their state and federal regulatory officials have up-to-date poultry industry information that will help them develop science-based decisions to help control animal disease outbreaks that work in alignment with current poultry industry practices.