More than USD 1.2 million (EUR 1.05 million) is being allocated toward the development of environmentally and economically sustainable aquaculture ventures within the United States, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on 6 April.
The funds are available through the Aquaculture Research Program, which supports projects that “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,” according to the USDA.
The program is administered through the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), and has awarded close to USD 2.5 million (EUR 2.2 million) in project funding since 2014.
With more than half of all seafood consumed worldwide originating from aquaculture operations, developing the sector within the United States has become steadily more important over time, the USDA said. The U.S. currently has a USD 12 billion (EUR 10.5 billion) trade deficit in seafood products and imports more than 90 percent of the seafood it consumes, further indicating the need for development of domestic aquaculture capacity, the organization said.
According to the USDA, applied research in genetics, disease, production systems and economics is necessary to develop U.S. aquaculture, and will be funded in part by the NIFA initiative.
Applications to apply for the program are due by 17 May. More information on the application process and the program can be found here.
Source: SeafoodSource.com
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