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Special Paper |
Competitive Programs3 and Plant and Animal Systems,4 Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC 20250-2241
ABSTRACT
The National Research Initiative (NRI) Competitive Grants Program is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's major competitive grants program and is administered by the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES). Since its inception in 1991, the NRI has funded competitive grants in the discipline of animal reproduction. Previously, this program provided funding for a broad range of projects encompassing almost every subdiscipline in reproductive biology of farm animals, including aquatic species important to the aquaculture industry. During fiscal year 2004, the NRI Animal Reproduction Program narrowed the focus of funding priorities to the topics of infertility, basic mechanisms regulating fertility, cryopreservation of gametes, reducing the postpartum interval to conception, and sterilization methods or development of monosex populations. In response to a directive to further narrow the focus of funding priorities for fiscal year 2005 and beyond, CSREES conducted a Stakeholder Workshop on Funding Priorities in Animal Reproduction at the 37th Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Reproduction in Vancouver, Canada. More than 75 stakeholder scientists from a cross section of federal, public, and private institutions from across the United States participated in the workshop and provided recommendations to CSREES for future NRI-funding priorities in Animal Reproduction. The recommendations provided by stakeholders included continuing efforts to focus funding priorities into fewer high-impact areas relevant to animal agriculture and aquaculture. Recommendations also included movement back toward subdisciplines of animal reproduction that cut across all applicable species. The three funding priorities that consistently emerged as recommendations from the workshop participants were 1) gonadal function and production of gametes, 2) pituitary-hypothalamic function, and 3) embryo and conceptus development, including interaction between the conceptus and uterus. These funding priorities were considered when preparing the fiscal year 2006 NRI Request for Applications.
animal, aquaculture, competitive grants, federal funding, female reproductive tract, male reproductive tract, ovary, pituitary, pregnancy, reproduction
INTRODUCTION
The National Research Initiative (NRI) Competitive Grants Program is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) major competitive grants program and is administered by the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES). The NRI Animal Reproduction program is essentially the only competitive grants program in the federal government that supports basic and applied research to enhance reproductive efficiency in breeding populations of livestock, poultry, and aquaculture species or to inhibit reproductive activity in meat-producing species. While funding is available from the National Institutes of Health for research with domestic animals, these research projects must use domestic animals as models for biomedical or human health-related issues.
The NRI was authorized by the U.S. Congress in the 1990 Farm Bill at a funding level of $500 million; however, the NRI has never been appropriated the maximal level of funding authorized. Only in recent years has the U.S. Congressional appropriation to the NRI exceeded $150 million (Fig. 1), of which approximately $4 million is allocated annually to support competitive grants within the NRI Animal Reproduction Program. In fiscal year 2005, the NRI supported more than 30 individual programs in animal production and protection, plant production and protection, pest biology, human nutrition, food safety, rural development, natural resources, and the environment, etc.
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The NRI Animal Reproduction Program funds competitive grants in animal reproduction, including standard research grants, standard integrated-project grants, new investigator grants, postdoctoral fellowships, research career enhancement (sabbatical) grants, seed grants, equipment grants, and research conference grants, as specified in the NRI Request for Applications (RFA) [1]. The overwhelming majority of funding is directed toward supporting standard research grants for fundamental or mission-oriented research from individual investigators or multidisciplinary teams. In fiscal year 2003, the U.S. Congress authorized expenditure of up to 20% of funds appropriated to the NRI to support projects that integrated at least two of the three functions of research, education, and extension-outreach.
A major objective of this article is to inform reproductive biologists about efforts to focus the NRI's limited fiscal resources into funding areas of greatest priority. The second goal is to provide the scientific community with information regarding recent efforts used to obtain input on funding priorities in animal reproduction from scientist stakeholders and, specifically, how the results of those efforts were used in focusing funding priorities in the RFA for fiscal year 2006. As background information in support of these objectives, a brief historical overview of the NRI and the Animal Reproduction program is provided also.
FUNDING PRIORITIES IN ANIMAL REPRODUCTION
Before 2004, funding from the NRI Animal Reproduction Program supported a broad range of projects encompassing almost every subdiscipline in reproductive biology of farm animals, including aquatic species important to the aquaculture industry and laboratory animals. For example, the fiscal year 2003 RFA solicited proposals for innovative research on 1) ovarian function, including follicular development, ovulation, and formation/function of the corpus luteum; 2) reproductive function in males; 3) gamete physiology, fertilization, and cryopreservation; 4) in vivo embryonic survival, embryonic-maternal interactions, and implantation; 5) placental function, including causes and remediation of early embryonic loss; 6) parturition, postpartum interval to conception, neonatal survival, and puberty; 7) development of the embryo, placenta, fetus, and reproductive tissues/organs; and 8) emerging reproductive biotechnologies, including culture methods for optimal in vitro production and development of embryos and nuclear transfer. Research proposals emphasizing new technologies or strategies to enhance reproductive efficiency with immediate application to the animal and/or aquaculture industries were also encouraged.
During fiscal year 2004, all NRI programs were directed by CSREES administrators to narrow the focus of funding priorities to three to five high impact areas. The impetus for this change was also provided, in part, by federal efforts to implement performance-based budgeting [2] and by the American Association for the Advancement of Science's dire prediction for substantial reduction in budgets for most federally funded nondefense research and development during 2005–2009 [3]. Accordingly, the NRI Animal Reproduction Program narrowed the focus of research priorities in fiscal year 2004 to the following topics: 1) infertility, 2) basic mechanisms regulating fertility, 3) cryopreservation of gametes, 4) reducing the postpartum interval to conception, and 5) sterilization methods or development of monosex populations. In fiscal year 2004, the Animal Reproduction Program also solicited proposals that were directed at the growing problem of infertility in dairy cattle [4, 5] that integrated at least two of the three functions of research, education, and extension. Further focusing of research priorities occurred in fiscal year 2005, with applicants invited to apply for grants in the areas of 1) infertility, 2) basic mechanisms regulating fertility, 3) cryopreservation of gametes, and 4) sterilization methods or development of monosex populations. In fiscal year 2005, the priorities for integrated research, education, and extension projects in the Animal Reproduction Program were expanded to include the problems of infertility in dairy cows and broiler breeder chickens or seasonal infertility in swine. These changes were implemented to help attain the long-term goals of the Animal Reproduction Program, which are 1) to improve fertility and decrease infertility, 2) develop improved methods for sterilization and production of monosex populations of animals, and 3) improve preservation (including cryopreservation) of gametes and embryos.
In 2000, a report from the National Research Council [6] recommended increasing the size of NRI grants to an average of $100,000 per year (total costs) over 3 years. In response to this recommendation, the size of standard research grants (excluding new-investigator grants, conference grants, postdoctoral fellowships, equipment grants, seed grants, or research career enhancement grants) in the NRI Animal Reproduction program increased from an average total award of $183,186 in fiscal year 2000 to an average total award of $352,634 in fiscal year 2004 (Fig. 2). As a result of increasing award size and a relatively flat program budget, the total number of standard research grants decreased from 19 in fiscal year 2000 to 10 in fiscal year 2004 (Fig. 2).
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Based on historical administration of the NRI and Congressional appropriations, increased appropriations for the NRI have typically been allocated to the creation of new NRI programs rather than increased funding for existing programs. Thus, future strategies for increasing NRI funding for research in animal reproduction may require creation of new programs that are very narrowly focused on high-priority national problems, such as reducing infertility in dairy cows, enhancing fertility in boiler breeder chickens, or improving cryopreservation of gametes.
STAKEHOLDER WORKSHOP ON FUNDING PRIORITIES IN ANIMAL REPRODUCTION
In response to a directive to further narrow the focus of funding priorities for fiscal year 2005 and beyond, CSREES conducted a Stakeholder Workshop on Funding Priorities in Animal Reproduction at the 37th Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Reproduction in Vancouver, Canada, on 1 August 2004. This meeting was an ideal venue to conduct this stakeholder workshop because it attracts most of the leading scientists in the area of reproductive biology. Intent to conduct this workshop was announced in the society's annual meeting brochure, website, and meeting announcement e-mails. An announcement was also sent by e-mail to all members of USDA-CSREES Multistate Project Committees in the discipline of reproduction. Registration was open to all individuals or groups eligible to apply for NRI grants.
The workshop consisted of two sessions. The first session was comprised of six invited oral presentations of 15 min each. The six speakers were selected by the authors to provide a breadth of expertise in disciplines in reproductive biology and experience with different animal models. Each speaker was charged with presenting his or her perspective on current and future problems associated with reproduction in agriculturally important animals, including aquatic species. The titles of the presentations and the speakers were: Reproductive problems in poultry, Janice Bahr, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL; Current and future problems in sperm cryopreservation, James Graham, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO; Fertilization—early embryo development—assisted reproduction, Kenneth White, Utah State University, Logan, UT; Current and future problems associated with reproduction in agriculturally important animals and aquatic species, Fuller Bazer, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX; Reproductive problems in cattle and sheep: hypothalamus and pituitary, Terry Nett, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO; Reproductive problems in aquatic species, Penny Swanson, National Marine Fisheries Service, Seattle, WA.
The second portion of the workshop involved dividing the workshop participants and speakers into four simultaneous focus groups for 1 h. Participants were distributed to ensure that each of the four groups had a diversity of representation in discipline and species expertise. Each focus group was charged with addressing two questions: 1) Should the NRI Animal Reproduction Program be an umbrella program to address many research priorities or focus narrowly on a few topics of high priority and 2) what are the top five research priorities? The focus groups were moderated by the following discussion leaders: Joy Pate, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH; Fredrick Stormshak, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR; Rafael Fissore, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA; James Ireland, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI.
The final phase of the workshop consisted of the four discussion leaders, each reporting the recommendations of their respective focus groups to all of the workshop participants, followed by questions and comments from the participants. This reporting phase lasted approximately 30 min.
More than 75 stakeholder scientists from a cross section of federal, public, and private institutions from across the United States participated in the workshop and provided recommendations to CSREES for future NRI-funding priorities in animal reproduction. The recommendations provided by stakeholders included continuing efforts to focus priorities into fewer high-impact areas relevant to animal production and aquaculture. These recommendations were supported by a moderate majority of workshop participants. The complete list of recommended priority areas provided by all four focus groups included: sperm biology, gamete biology and preservation, development of the oocyte, follicle recruitment and development, anovulation, follicular atresia, identifying genes involved in gamete quality and embryo development, uterine-conceptus interactions with emphasis on embryonic and fetal survival, establishment and maintenance of pregnancy, parturition, reproductive immunology, sexual differentiation, gonadal development, hypothalamic-pituitary function, endocrinology, endocrine disruptors, environmental effects on gametogenesis and fetal development, environmental and nutritional impacts on reproductive development, nutrition-reproduction interactions, prolonged anestrus or infertility (especially in dairy cows, turkeys, broiler breeders, sows, and sheep), fish reproduction, poultry reproduction, preservation of genetics, assisted reproductive technologies, development of diagnostic procedures to assess reproductive performance, sterilization of fish and cattle, and improved reproductive-management education of animal producers. Recommendations also included describing funding priority areas in subdisciplines of animal reproduction that cut across all livestock, poultry, and aquaculture species. In addition, all four focus groups recommended additional support for training programs to prepare the next generation of scientists in basic and applied aspects of reproductive biology in livestock, poultry, and aquaculture species. Based on these recommendations and ensuing discussion from participants during the workshop, the following three funding priorities emerged consistently: 1) gonadal function and production of gametes, 2) pituitary-hypothalamic function, and 3) embryo and conceptus development, including interaction between the conceptus and uterus. These priority areas emerged because each cut across all livestock, poultry, and aquaculture species and each encompassed more narrowly defined but related areas that were recommended by two or more of the focus groups. These priorities were considered when preparing the fiscal year 2006 NRI Request for Applications [1].
Summary and Conclusions
The stakeholder workshop at the 37th Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Reproduction provided the first public forum for obtaining input to set priorities for the NRI Animal Reproduction Program. Prior to this workshop, input was obtained from previous panel managers, current and former panelists, commodity groups, and scientists in the area of domestic animal reproductive biology. Although a long list of potential research topics was provided by the workshop participants, a focused list of priorities was eventually derived and was considered when preparing the fiscal year 2006 NRI RFA. These priority areas were derived based on each cutting across all livestock, poultry, and aquaculture species and each encompassing related areas of research that were recommended as priorities by two or more of the focus groups. These priority areas are likely to continue for the next 3–5 yr before being reassessed after portfolio analysis and obtaining additional stakeholder input. Stakeholder input will continue to be an essential component of the priority-setting process as efforts to focus priorities for NRI competitive grants programs continue in the future. Effective priority setting can be used to maximize the impact of limited financial resources, establish useful metrics to measure progress, and ultimately convince administrators and Congress to increase investments in research. Additional comments regarding the priorities of the NRI Animal Reproduction Program may be submitted at any time by e-mail to RFP-OEP@csrees.usda.gov.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the six speakers and four discussion group leaders who participated in the stakeholder workshop. The authors are also indebted to Judith Jansen and Melissa Clifton for facilitating the local arrangements to host the workshop.
FOOTNOTES
2 Correspondence: Mark A. Mirando, National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program, Stop 2241, 1400 Independence Ave. SW, Washington, DC. 20250-2241. FAX: 202 205 3641; mmirando{at}csrees.usda.gov 
1 Supported by Program Enhancement Funds from the Competitive Programs Unit and the Plant and Animal Systems Unit of the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service made available as a grant (2004-38836-03050) to the Society for the Study of Reproduction.
Received: 18 October 2005.
First decision: 27 October 2005.
Accepted: 14 November 2005.
REFERENCES
This article has been cited by other articles:
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  C. G. Scanes The Case for Funding Agricultural Research Poult. Sci., December 1, 2007; 86(12): 2483 - 2484. [Full Text] [PDF]
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 M. A. Mirando The National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program in animal reproduction: Changes in priorities and scope relevant to United States animal agriculture J Anim Sci, March 1, 2007; 85(13_suppl): E11 - E15. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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J. J. Reeves A researcher's perceptions of United States Department of Agriculture funding in animal reproduction J Anim Sci, March 1, 2007; 85(13_suppl): E16 - E17. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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