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NIAA Fact Sheet
NIAA is an organization that satisfies your needs, concerns and interests about the animal agriculture industry. Membership with the National Institute for Animal Agriculture offers just that, and so much more. NIAA's purpose is quite simple — to provide a source for individuals, organizations, and the entire animal agriculture industry to obtain information, education and solutions for challenges facing animal agriculture.
There's not a better time than right now to get involved. If you are a professional engaged in animal agriculture — including producers, veterinarians, scientists, government representatives and allied industries — then membership in NIAA is for you.
NIAA carries a strong legacy of providing the U.S. livestock industry with a forum to collectively address issues of common interest. The new organization, successor to the Livestock Conservation Institute (LCI), is the result of a progressive process and vision that began in 1996 when LCI Board of Directors commissioned a long-range planning team to landscape an organization that would best serve animal agriculture in the 21st century. The newly created organization, NIAA, began operations in January 2000 and is collectively addressing issues of interest to the industry, providing vital industry information, continuing education and communication outlets for animal agriculture professionals.
The mission of the National Institute for Animal Agriculture is to provide a forum for building consensus and advancing solutions for animal agriculture and to provide continuing education and communication linkages to animal agriculture professionals.
The organization is dedicated to programs that: work towards the eradication of diseases that pose a risk the health of animals, wildlife and humans; promote a safe and wholesome food supply for our nation and abroad; and promote best practices in environmental stewardship, animal health and well-being.
NIAA’s purpose is to provide a source for individuals, organizations, and the entire animal agriculture industry to get information, education and solutions for animal agriculture challenges. The new organization accomplishes this by coordinating and promoting industry programs and materials that assist animal agriculture professionals in addressing emerging and current issues.
An important component of NIAA education and informational programs is the exchange of technical and other information. This exchange of information is valuable in two ways. First, members are better informed and therefore better able to do their jobs. And second, through discussions industry-wide positions are taken, voted on and become industry policy. It is this type of exchange that enables NIAA to be a facilitator of solutions for the animal agriculture industry as workshops pull together decision-makers, problems are identified and solutions initiated for industry-wide gain.
NIAA also provides continuing education opportunities for professionals involved in animal agriculture. The organization plans to offer educational opportunities in multiple locations on a year-round basis. Furthermore, personal growth conferences and workshops will target the needs of those involved in animal agriculture.
The new organization continues to address many traditional livestock industry issues, such as animal health, animal care and handling, animal production (on-farm) food safety, animal identification and information systems and environmental issues, but also encompasses emerging issues, such as those surrounding international trade and biotechnology. Specifically in the area of animal health, NIAA addresses issues such as preventive herd/flock health strategies, disease eradication, animal health emergency management, animal health and trade (new), and emerging diseases. NIAA issue initiatives encompass the entire animal agriculture field including: cattle, sheep, swine, avian (new) and equine (new) industries.
LCI predominately focused on the pork, beef and dairy cattle and sheep industries. NIAA continues to focus on these species, enhancing representation in some cases — but will explore new areas of interest with the equine, avian and aquaculture industries. Members include professionals engaged in animal agriculture including producers, veterinarians, scientists, government representatives and allied industries.
Building Consensus/Advancing Solutions
Animal agriculture is a large, diverse industry. NIAA is where animal agriculture comes together to address issues in a unified manner. NIAA coordinates and facilitates regional workshops and national conferences and symposia addressing issues that affect animal agriculture and the public at-large. The organization provides a forum for industry, research and government to address these issues collaboratively in order to reach a unified resolve.
NIAA will provide opportunities to explore and build consensus, promote better understanding of knowledge/information, and function as an objective mediator among differing and conflicting positions to result in a common position representing the total animal agriculture industry.
Continuing Education & Other Educational Programs
The organization produces educational resources and instructional materials (videos, pamphlets, etc.) to be used in educating and training production employees in animal care and handling, disease eradication, and implementing good production practices.
NIAA will fill a void in providing continuing education opportunities to professionals involved in animal agriculture. NIAA will coordinate and provide personal growth conferences for animal agriculture professionals.
Communication & Information Dissemination
The need for shared information between industry, government and the research community is greater today than perhaps ever before. NIAA publishes and disseminates information on animal care and handling, animal health emergency management, animal health and international trade, animal identification and information systems, animal production food safety, disease eradication, emerging diseases, environmental stewardship and preventive herd/flock health strategies.
NIAA publications provide a communications link between producers, veterinarians, researchers, academicians, government veterinarians and regulatory personnel. NIAA's Weekly News Bulletin gleans information of interest to those in animal agriculture — saving readers significant time — and is disseminated every Thursday. NIAA's enewsletter "News and Information for Animal Agriculture" focuses primarily on NIAA events and is published four times a year. NIAA also publishes a quarterly beef enewsletter and a quarterly dairy enewsletter about Johne's disease, with these enewsletters funded by USDA/APHIS/VS.
The organization will be placing increasing emphasis on communicating via the Internet in order to expand our reach and to make this information available to tens of thousands of other animal agriculture professionals as well as the public at-large.
The information generated by NIAA provides animal agriculture professionals with knowledge that will cause improvement in food animal production, thus creating a more safe and wholesome food supply, improve animal care and handling and eradicate costly diseases that threaten the health of our domestic animal population as well as humans.
Phone: (719) 538-8843 • Fax: (719) 538-8847 • Email: niaa@animalagriculture.org