Agricultural Research Service (ARS) programs

The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the principal in-house research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). It is one of the four component agencies of the Research, Education, and Economics (REE) mission area. Congress first authorized Federally-supported agricultural research in the Organic Act of 1862, which established the USDA. That statute directed the Commissioner of Agriculture "... To acquire and preserve in his Department all information he can obtain by means of books and correspondence and by practical and scientific experiments..." Today ARS has a workforce of approximately 8,000 employees including 2,000 scientists representing a wide range of disciplines. ARS has about 700 research projects being implemented at over 90 locations across the country and at 4 overseas laboratories.

NATURE OF ASSISTANCE:

ARS is actively engaged in implementing research programs that support global disease control initiatives for plants and animals, including emerging diseases and zoonotic agents that pose a threat to human health. ARS research programs support disease control initiatives in collaboration with several U.S government departments and agencies such as the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Department of State Biosecurity Engagement Program. In addition, ARS actively collaborates with international partners worldwide on research projects dedicated to support disease surveillance programs. ARS is one of the founding members of the Global Foot-and-Mouth Disease Research Alliance (GFRA), and the African Swine Fever Research Alliance (GARA), which have as their primary missions to support  the United  Nation ' s  Food  and  Agricultural  Organization (FAO) and  World  Organization for Animal Health (OIE) global efforts to control and eradicate FMD and ASF.

The key criterion for establishing international research collaborations in a country is whether that country is endemic for the disease that is the subject of the research.