The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack shared that the USDA plans to spend $500 million to help encourage the construction of new small meat processing facilities in the country.

The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a ruling regarding ‘Made in USA’ (MUSA) product labeling claims. The ruling will take effect on August 13, 2021. A public workshop and a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking comment period were accomplished by FTC, where the rule gained “nearly universal support for a rule addressing MUSA labels.

Dr. Johnson started off the Animal Health Symposium on Saturday, July 17th, by discussing where we currently sit with the use of antibiotics in animal production and why that position has been changing over time. Using an antibiotic is not a simple process, there are many factors that go into giving antibiotics such as regulatory issues, economics, and pressures from consumers. When animals get sick the traditional approaches have been to rely on effective antibiotics to eliminate the pathogen causing the disease.

Dr. Bijma began by discussing why selection against infectious diseases is more promising than currently believed. Infectious diseases are a great concern in agriculture as they lead to production losses and costs of treatment causing economic damage. Genetic selection has been used as a strategy to combat infectious diseases in agriculture. The current breeder’s perspective focuses on the binary disease status of the individual and the low heritabilities suggest the rate for genetic improvement is restricted; however, Dr. Bijma explained that a proper quantitative genetic theory that includes transmission dynamics within a population is lacking.

The Nation Animal Nutrition Program (NANP) was established in 2010 to support research requested by stakeholders. It addresses challenges in research, education, and teaching, and supports agencies in animal agriculture. Information Technology (IT) has evolved greatly over the years particularly in combination with data analytics. In the animal industry, understanding the application of information technology of data analytics can provide a competitive advantage.

Larry Redmon began the symposium with a presentation about “Where Should Forage Courses Be Housed”. According to him, in forage, there is often separation between the animal and plant science aspects of the field. In many cases in forage teaching, boundaries are not crossed to work with cooperating departments such as animal science. There is also uncertainty as to which department forages should be housed in.

The symposium focused on “Science Communication and a Skeptical Society: From Research to Social Media”. The introduction began by addressing the large scope of sharing information particularly with the advent of social media. There are many gaps in information that science has the potential to correct to alleviate biased and sensationalized messages from the media and research that can create bias.

Lowell Randel, a member of the ASAS Public Policy Committee (PPC) introduced the symposium. According to him the purpose of grand challenges (GCs) is to develop the field of animal science since the last strategic plan. Grand challenges clearly articulate priorities for providing scientific information for shaping public policy and enhancing research and educational programs in animal science.

Dr. Chris Parks delivered the first talk about “Integrated Pork Production During a Global Pandemic: Impact on the Live Production Supply Chain, Feed Mills, & Nutrition''. According to him, the U.S. has an integrated pork system resulting from vertical integration. This means that a single company controls pork production from farmers to consumers allowing them to capitalize on the economics of the scale, create consistent products, and spread out risk.

Dr. Belstra began the Swine Species Symposium by addressing critical gaps in swine reproduction. Today's talk was about the identification of swine reproduction opportunities, especially those that add value by addressing industry challenges and leveraging assisted reproductive technologies (ART).

Dr. Hocquette began the Meat Science and Muscle Biology Symposium by reviewing past research in muscle biology and energy partitioning between the muscle and adipose tissues. Dr. Hocquette stated that a precise definition of variables and repeatability of measurements are crucial for this research.

The 2021 ASAS-CSAS-SSASAS Annual Meeting at the Louisville Convention Center in Kentucky, Companion Animals Symposium II (July 16, 2021), comprised of four presenters from diverse educational backgrounds. The overarching theme was brewing and fermented ingredients in pet nutrition.

The Companion Animal III Symposium at the 2021 ASAS National Meeting focused on dietary supplements in companion animal nutrition. Several speakers presented different, though highly relevant, perspectives on the potential, discovery, development, and regulatory concerns about the inclusion of dietary supplements in the diets of companion animals.

The Forages and Pastures Symposium I on Friday, July 16th, began with Dr. DelCurto discussing the ongoing challenges of designing research for beef cattle production in extensive environments. Previous study designs trying to get enough observations for statistical inference required cattle to be brought in from the rangeland each day, sorted, fed, and then let back out.

The 2021 ASAS Cell Biology Symposium that took place on Friday, July 16th, focused on the role of epigenetics in production and health. Dr. Peterson started off the symposium by discussing the role epigenetics has in maternal and fetal programming specifically looking at the pancreas.

Dr. Poore jump-started the SSASAS Kunkle Symposium to discuss byproduct feeds in the Southeastern beef production systems. There are many alternative feeds available and used for both cow/calf and stocker cattle in this region. In addition, classification of the feeds (waste materials, waste products, byproducts, and coproducts) may also influence when to use these alternatives.

Thank you so much for hosting the blood drive at your annual conference. 23 donors attempted to donate. We had a fantastic number of first-time donors (13) who came forward. We ended the day at 84% of the hospital pledge with 21 units.

Dr. Maltecca's presentation began by introducing how feed costs, amount, and quality of lean products, improving diets, exploiting livestock genetic variability and focusing on individual variation all play a role in producing protein efficiently. His research group focuses on applying the gut microbiome in swine production, with a particular focus on growth and feed efficiency.

The 2021 ASAS Comparative Gut Physiology Symposium focused on the integration of parents and offspring in the promotion, evaluation, and improvement of gut health. Overall, the speakers agreed that there are very defined times in young animal lives, before and after birth, when an intervention can improve, or in some cases, decrease their potential for health and productivity.

Genomics is a rapidly expanding field that requires unique education to use knowledge from quantitative genetics. However, it is challenging to provide education to meet the needs of the rapid genomic revolution particularly with limited funding, faculty, and expertise. In the early 2000s, the USDA defined a need for solid infrastructure to deliver information about advances in animal genetics.