Swine Composting Training for USDA Veterinary Services Employees | USDA GRANTS 111616 001

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA GRANTS 111616 001

The Swine Composting Training for USDA Veterinary Services Employees grant opportunity (USDA GRANTS 111616 001) is a discretionary funding program from the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Veterinary Services (VS), offered through a cooperative agreement under CFDA 10.025. The goal is to partner with an academic institution or a state government entity to deliver practical, field-oriented training on composting swine carcasses as a disposal method during animal health emergencies that involve depopulation and disposal activities. The primary audience for the training is VS personnel, mainly veterinarians and animal health technicians, who are expected to serve as Composting Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) during incidents where composting is used. In that role, the SME is responsible for providing on-site technical guidance and oversight to help ensure composting is performed correctly, safely, and in line with established procedures during high-pressure response situations.

The funded project is expected to deliver two separate four-day training sessions, each with up to 20 participants, for a total training capacity of up to 40 VS staff. The training design is meant to be blended and applied, combining classroom-style seminars and guided discussions with hands-on demonstrations. A key operational requirement is that the awardee must furnish animals that can be demonstrated in various stages of composting, so that trainees can see and work with realistic composting conditions rather than learning only through lecture or static examples. The training sessions must be conducted within a defined window: no earlier than June 1, 2017, and no later than September 15, 2017, which signals that the program is intended to rapidly build readiness for response needs on a near-term timeline.

The opportunity emphasizes several priority learning outcomes that reflect the real-world responsibilities of composting SMEs. First, trainees must develop a strong understanding of composting as a carcass management tool, including the overall process and its role within an emergency disposal strategy. Second, the training must cover how to select and lay out locations for compost windrows while balancing practical constraints like available space with critical safeguards such as environmental protection and biosecurity. Third, participants need to learn how to assess compost piles for performance and how to troubleshoot piles that are not meeting standard operating procedure (SOP) specifications, which is particularly important during outbreak response when timelines and public and animal health risks are elevated. Fourth, the program must address the equipment required to build and turn compost piles, reinforcing the operational reality that proper composting depends not only on technique but also on having and using appropriate machinery and tools. Fifth, and most importantly from a performance standpoint, the training should incorporate scenario-based exercises that push trainees to construct functional compost piles for swine carcasses that meet USDA SOP time and temperature requirements designed to support pathogen elimination. This scenario element indicates that the agency is looking for training that tests decision-making and execution, not just knowledge recall.

Eligibility is limited to Land-Grant Universities, non-land-grant colleges of agriculture, colleges of veterinary medicine, and state entities capable of carrying out the training and logistical requirements. The notice indicates that an appendix provides a partial outline of topics to be covered, and applicants are explicitly encouraged to propose additional topics, suggesting the agency is open to improvements, innovations, or regionally informed best practices as long as they support the core competencies. The opportunity also notes a separate funding opportunity for Swine Depopulation Training. While applicants must submit separately to each opportunity, the agency will give additional consideration to candidates who can provide both trainings and use the same animals for both, which highlights an interest in coordination, efficiency, and minimizing duplicative logistics and costs.

Key administrative details included in the source data are the original closing date of January 15, 2017, an expected number of awards of one, and a creation date of November 16, 2016. The award ceiling is not specified in the provided text. Overall, this grant is focused on building a small cadre of highly capable USDA VS composting SMEs through intensive, hands-on instruction that closely mirrors the conditions and technical demands of real incident response, with particular attention to siting, biosecurity, troubleshooting, equipment use, and meeting pathogen-reduction SOP benchmarks.

• The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in the agriculture sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Swine Composting Training for USDA Veterinary Services Employees" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.025.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2016-11-16.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2017-01-15. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for USDA GRANTS 111616 001

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