GENOMICS SYMPOSIUM: Translational genomics to improve fertility of animals

In 2010, the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture launched the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Food Security Challenge Area program. The goal of this program was to support integrated research, extension, and education projects directed at increasing the agricultural production of plants and animals needed to feed a burgeoning global population that is expected to be almost 9.8 billion people by the year 2050 (United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, 2017). One program area in the 2010 AFRI Food Security Challenge Area request for applications focused on increasing production efficiency in livestock through funding of integrated research, extension, and education project grants that fostered collaboration of scientists and educators working in the field of genetics and genomics with those in other disciplines, including animal nutrition, health, and reproduction.