USDA announced $6 million has been made available to fund research addressing antimicrobial resistance.

“Through our Antimicrobial Resistance Action Plan, USDA is leading the way to better understand how antibiotic resistance develops, find alternatives to antibiotics, and educate people on practices that reduce the need for antibiotics,” says Tom Vilsack, USDA secretary. “The research projects funded through this announcement will help us succeed in our efforts to preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics and protect public health.”

Specifically, USDA says this program will prioritize the development of sustainable and integrated food safety strategies that reduce public health risks along the entire food chain, from producer to consumer.

Applications must address one or more of the following:

-Develop novel systems approaches to investigate the ecology of microbial resistance microbes and gene reservoirs in the environment in animals, in crops, in food products, or in farm-raised aquaculture products.

-Develop, evaluate, and implement effective and sustainable resources and strategies, to include alternative practices, techniques, technologies or tools that mitigate emergence, spread or persistence of antimicrobial resistant pathogens within the agricultural ecosystem, in animals, in crops, and in food.

-Identify critical control points for mitigating antimicrobial resistance in the pre- and post-harvest food production environment.

-Design innovative training, education, and outreach resources (including web-based resources) that can be adapted by users across the food chain, including policy makers, producers, processors, retailers and consumers.

-Design and conduct studies that evaluate the impact and efficacy of proposed research, education and extension/outreach interventions on antimicrobial resistance across the food chain, from primary producers to primary consumers.

Applications are due Aug. 3. More information can be found here.