Mississippi State University will lead its new Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Fish through a five-year award, with an initial obligation of $8 million for the first year, from the U.S. Department of State to advance research and innovation that strengthen global aquatic food systems and create benefits for U.S. agriculture, industry, and food security.
The Fish Innovation Lab will be led by MSU’s Global Center for Aquatic Health and Food Security, or GCAHFS, a university center reporting to MSU’s Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine and the Office of Research and Economic Development.
The lab will bring together researchers, universities, government agencies, industry partners, and other organizations to develop, test, and scale practical innovations addressing aquaculture production, aquatic animal health, fisheries, food safety, nutrition, and market development. The program builds on the previous Fish Innovation Lab, which supported 30 multidisciplinary research activities in 10 countries and worked with more than 50 institutional partners.
“This award reinforces Mississippi State’s role as a national leader in applying agricultural research to challenges that affect food and economic security around the world,” said MSU President Mark E. Keenum. “As a land-grant university, we have a responsibility to turn discovery into practical solutions, and the Fish Innovation Lab creates opportunities to do that while strengthening American agriculture, advancing U.S. innovation and building lasting international partnerships.”
Increasing the production and consumption of aquatic foods is central to the lab’s mission to reduce poverty, hunger and malnutrition while producing tangible benefits for the United States. Research will focus on solutions that can move from development to practice, including opportunities to open international markets for U.S. products and technologies and strengthen the protection of U.S. aquaculture from emerging disease and biosecurity threats.
Research priorities will include aquatic feeds, genetics and seedstock, fish health, aquaculture production, freshwater and marine fisheries, food safety, nutrition, value-added products, economics and trade and technology transfer.
The Fish Innovation Lab will be led by Dr. Mark Lawrence, director of GCAHFS and William L. Giles Distinguished Professor at MSU, who directed the previous Fish Innovation Lab alongside Dr. Stephen Reichley, associate director of GCAHFS and previous Fish Innovation Lab deputy director.
MSU will lead a consortium of U.S. universities and aquaculture companies, with additional collaboration from international universities and partner organizations in participating countries. Industry engagement will be a central component, connecting U.S. companies and technologies with research and demonstration activities overseas, while helping identify barriers and opportunities for American products.
“This new award allows us to build on what worked in the previous Fish Innovation Lab while putting even greater emphasis on moving research into use,” Lawrence said. “We want to develop practical technologies that producers and businesses will adopt, create opportunities for U.S. companies in growing international markets, and address threats such as aquatic animal diseases before they reach American production systems.”
MSU’s international work in aquatic health also includes a renewed designation from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as a Reference Centre on Antimicrobial Resistance and Aquaculture Biosecurity. The five-year agreement, renewed in September, extends through October 31, 2031, and recognizes Mississippi State’s expertise in protecting aquatic animal health and strengthening aquaculture biosecurity.
“Aquatic foods from fisheries and aquaculture are already indispensable to diets and livelihoods around the world, but their potential will only be realized if aquatic food systems become more sustainable, equitable, resilient and nutrition-focused. This requires research and collaboration,” said Dan Gustafson, former deputy director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. “International research partnerships such as Mississippi State’s Fish Innovation Lab, a longstanding partner, matter because they lead to locally appropriate science, technology and capacity for the benefit of everyone involved.”
