The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) has two types of research programs: discovery and targeted. For discovery research, a general call for proposals is issued in the research category areas of prevention and treatment of diseases, breeding and genetics, nutrition, reproductive physiology, swine care and management systems, market technology, economics, environmental management, new concepts, human nutrition, and meat science. Submitted projects are reviewed by scientists for experimental design and methods and by producers for relevance to the pork industry. In addition, the appropriate committee reviews the projects. For example, the Swine Health Committee reviews the swine disease project proposals.

Targeted research consists of a specific call for research proposals in narrowly focused areas. In 1996, a call will be issued for projects on Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) after a PRRS Summit is held to summarize current research and identify research needs.

The NPPC Swine Health Committee recently prioritized topics for swine health research. In priority order, these areas are: PRRS vaccines, PRRS epidemiology, Segregated Early Wean issues, differentiation of Transmissible Gastroenteritis virus and Porcine Coronavirus, ileitis, pseudorabies virus, Mycoplasma, atrophic rhinitis, Salmonella, Actinobacillus pleuropneumonia, foreign animal diseases, and leptospirosis. These priorities will periodically be reviewed and revised.