44 JUNE 2024 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG USDA ARS ARS provides solutions to national and global agricultural challenges that affect Americans from field to table every day. ARS delivers cutting-edge, scientific tools and innovative solutions for American farmers, producers, industry, and communities to support the nourishment and well-being of all people; to sustain our nation’s agroecosystems and natural resources; and to ensure the economic competitiveness and excellence of our agriculture. ARS NP106 includes scientists and staff at 12 laboratories (Figure 1) conducting research in the disciplines of genetics, nutrition, health, and physiology to support aquatic animal production, while research in ecology, water quality, engineering, and food science supports the improvement of systems and products to ensure long-term sustainability. U.S. Aquaculture Aquaculture production is growing because demands for healthy seafood products are increasing even as some stocks of wildcaught seafood are dwindling from overfishing and other factors, including changing climates. Developing technologies that reduce production costs while maintaining or improving product quality will help U.S. aquaculture producers meet increasing demands. Producers, processors, and breeders need systems that maximize aquatic animal production, reduce environmental impacts, increase market competitiveness, sustain producers, and earn consumer confidence. ARS aquaculture research supports commercial aquaculture production to ensure that a healthy, competitive, and sustainable aquaculture sector can produce an abundant, safe, healthy, and affordable supply of aquatic products. This work advances the efforts of almost 6,000 domestic aquaculture farms annually that produce goods worth more than $2.27 billion to meet market demands generated by domestic and international customers.5 Aquaculture Research ARS aquaculture research follows a 5-year strategic planning cycle that begins when an external panel of industry members and academic scientists conducts a Retrospective Review of the impacts from research conducted during the previous 5 years. This panel is provided with a comprehensive report summarizing information in NP106 annual reports about program activities, research accomplishments, metrics on technology transfer and outreach activities, international collaborations, and publications for each research project.6 The external panel uses this comprehensive summary report to conduct a thorough evaluation of NP106’s effectiveness and impact. The most recent evaluation covered NP106 research from 2018 to 2022.7 Following the Retrospective Review, USDA ARS scientists and the National Program Leader for Aquaculture worked with the National Program Leader covering aquaculture from USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to solicit stakeholder input through listening sessions that: 1) informed the status of ongoing industry challenges; 2) identified priorities to direct strategic research planning activities; and 3) informed Agency management about broader industry issues as they make programmatic decisions. ARS and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) also hosted an internal listening session to identify research priorities that might support aquaculture activities in other agencies across USDA. In addition, ARS and NIFA representatives regularly communicate with industry stakeholders by taking part in meetings and maintaining connections with professional organizations and conferences. This input was used to develop the Aquaculture National Program Action Plan 2025-2029, 8 which outlines stakeholder research priorities for the next 5 years that ARS has the expertise and capacity to address. This action plan also describes how these priorities align within the broader goals of the USDA Strategic Plan Fiscal Years 2022-20269 and the ARS Strategic
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