The National Sheep Industry Improvement Center
kicked off the New Year by awarding six grants totaling $149,000 to deserving
organizations affiliated with the American sheep industry.
The NSIIC Board of Directors received 23 requests for nearly $2 million in funding, but chose to stick with projects that affect the sheep industry as a whole - thus providing a national impact through its grant funding. Established as part of the 2008 Farm Bill, the NSIIC includes a nine-member board comprised of seven voting members and two non-voting members. Voting members include four domestic producers of sheep or goats; two members with expertise in finance and management; and one member with expertise in lamb, wool, goat or goat product marketing. Non-voting members include the Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs and the Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The board reviews each proposal, recommends funding and submits those recommendations to USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service for approval.
The six grants funded are as follows:
The NSIIC Board of Directors received 23 requests for nearly $2 million in funding, but chose to stick with projects that affect the sheep industry as a whole - thus providing a national impact through its grant funding. Established as part of the 2008 Farm Bill, the NSIIC includes a nine-member board comprised of seven voting members and two non-voting members. Voting members include four domestic producers of sheep or goats; two members with expertise in finance and management; and one member with expertise in lamb, wool, goat or goat product marketing. Non-voting members include the Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs and the Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The board reviews each proposal, recommends funding and submits those recommendations to USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service for approval.
The six grants funded are as follows:
- The National Sheep Improvement
Program: To fund an education initiative and awareness within the sheep
industry. Activities of this project include conducting informational
workshops and field days throughout the country, developing educational
literature for purebred and commercial producers, and assisting new
members in the transition into quantitative genetics.
- The Dairy Sheep Association of
North America: To develop key tools for producers and industry
stakeholders, as well as to create a functional and stable organizational
structure for industry leadership.
- The Montana Wool Growers
Association: To provide a two-year educational program for individuals
interested in shearing sheep or in wool handling. This would be comparable
to a trade degree at a state university.
- Montana State University: To
evaluate the effect of zinc oxide injections during critical production
periods on ewe and lamb productivity.
- Texas A&M AgriLife and
Montana State University: To provide educational outreach programs for
producers and stakeholders of American wool aimed at improving wool
quality and reducing contaminants, and to encourage the use of Code of
Practice standards. In addition, the program will: apply light microscopy
and Raman spectroscopy to detect and identify contaminants; evaluate the
FibreLux Micron Meter for on farm wool classing; and investigate
value-based pricing of wool.
- University of Wyoming: To
quantify the economic impact of excessively fat lambs in the United States
lamb processing sector. The project is a phase one pilot study to quantify
the economic losses due to overfat lamb at two of the major packing
plants.