The U.S. Poultry & Egg Assn. (USPOULTRY) and the USPOULTRY Foundation, through the comprehensive research program, are accepting research pre-proposals from colleges, universities and research facilities through Nov. 2 for the 2021 spring research competition.

Research proposals are accepted and evaluated for funding twice each year, in the spring and fall, USPOULTRY said, explaining that pre-proposals are one-page synopses of potential research projects. The Foundation Research Advisory Committee will review the pre-proposals and invite full proposals that meet current research interests.

A complete priority research list is available on the association's website. USPOULTRY said the current list of research priorities includes goals and objectives for the following categories: animal welfare, breeder management (turkeys and broilers), meat bird management, commercial egg production, diseases, employee safety and health, environmental management, feed mill operations, food safety, further-processing, genetics, hatchery management, live haul, human nutrition, nutrition, poultry housing and poultry processing.

Visit www.uspoultry.org, and click on “Research” for complete instructions and deadlines to submit a pre-proposal.

Proposals are also invited for new issues that emerge outside the priority list, but such proposals will be evaluated based on justification of the research need. Projects will be selected for funding in April 2021.

USPOULTRY and its foundation operate a comprehensive research program incorporating all phases of poultry and egg production and processing. Since the inception of the research program, USPOULTRY has reinvested more than $32 million into the industry in the form of research grants. More than 50 universities and federal and state facilities have received grants over the years.