Mississippi State University will lead a five-year, multi-million-dollar program to strengthen global aquatic food systems through advanced research while creating benefits for U.S. agriculture, industry, and food security, starting with an $8 million award in the first year.
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Fish, or Fish Innovation Lab, will be led by MSU’s Global Center for Aquatic Health and Food Security, or GCAHFS, to bring together researchers, government agencies, industry partners, universities, and other organizations to increase the production and consumption of aquatic foods.
The program will build off a previous Fish Innovation Lab that supported 30 multidisciplinary research activities in 10 countries and worked with more than 50 institutional partners.
“This award reinforces Mississippi State’s role as a national leader in applying agricultural research to challenges that affect food and economic security around the world,” MSU President Mark E. Keenum said. “As a land-grant university, we have a responsibility to turn discovery into practical solutions, and the Fish Innovation Lab creates opportunities to do that while strengthening American agriculture, advancing U.S. innovation and building lasting international partnerships.”
Additionally, the Fish Innovation Lab, led by MSU professor and GCAHFS director Dr. Mark Lawrence, will work to innovate aquaculture production, aquatic animal health, fisheries, food safety, nutrition, and market development. Researchers will focus on solutions that will one day become tangible in the fight against poverty and malnutrition, while also strengthening the state of U.S. food production.
According to MSU, research priorities will include aquatic feeds, genetics and seedstock, fish health, aquaculture production, freshwater and marine fisheries, food safety, nutrition, value-added products, economics and trade, and technology transfer.
The school will lead a group of fellow U.S. universities, aquaculture companies, international schools, and organizations in participating countries. MSU notes that industry engagement will be pivotal. The Fish Innovation Lab will connect U.S. companies and technology with research and help from overseas.
“This new award allows us to build on what worked in the previous Fish Innovation Lab while putting even greater emphasis on moving research into use,” Lawrence said. “We want to develop practical technologies that producers and businesses will adopt, create opportunities for U.S. companies in growing international markets, and address threats such as aquatic animal diseases before they reach American production systems.”
The agreement recognizes MSU’s expertise in strengthening aquaculture biosecurity and protecting aquatic animal health.
“Aquatic foods from fisheries and aquaculture are already indispensable to diets and livelihoods around the world, but their potential will only be realized if aquatic food systems become more sustainable, equitable, resilient and nutrition-focused. This requires research and collaboration,” Dan Gustafson, former deputy director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, said. “International research partnerships such as Mississippi State’s Fish Innovation Lab, a longstanding partner, matter because they lead to locally appropriate science, technology and capacity for the benefit of everyone involved.”
The five-year agreement, renewed in September, will run through Oct. 31, 2031.