USDA-NIFA funds project to study bacteria movement from animal waste to crops

The USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture is committing more than $5 million to mitigate antimicrobial resistance across the food chain.

This investment is part of NIFA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative’s Mitigating Antimicrobial Resistance across the Food Chain grant program, which supports integrated research, education and Extension projects. Research approaches include risk assessment, antibiotic management and stewardship, advancing understanding of emerging resistant pathogens and their mechanisms for resistance, and disease control using antimicrobial alternatives. NIFA’s work contributes to the overall federal strategy to combat antimicrobial resistance as described in the Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria National Action Plan 2020-2025.

Nine projects are being funded, totaling $5,117,165. Among the projects is $1 million to Iowa State University to study the movement of bacteria through various environments, including surface and subsurface water, as a route for human and animal waste to reach crops. Animal waste has been linked to pathogen outbreaks caused by contaminated fresh produce, such as leafy greens.

This research will help strengthen USDA’s overall efforts to protect public health through agricultural research that addresses antimicrobial resistance (AMR). To learn more, visit USDA’s AMR website.

NIFA invests in and advances agricultural research, education and Extension across the nation to make transformative discoveries that solve societal challenges. NIFA supports initiatives that ensure the long-term viability of agriculture and applies an integrated approach to ensure that groundbreaking discoveries in agriculture-related sciences and technologies reach the people who can put them into practice. In FY 2021, NIFA’s total investment was $1.96 billion.