The Veterinary Services Grant Program, authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill, also provides competitive grants to qualified entities and individual veterinarians that carry out programs in veterinarian shortage situations and for the purpose of developing, implementing, and sustaining veterinary services.
The NIFA awarded 13 grants last November to support rural veterinary services and relieve shortages of veterinarians in parts of the U.S.
Looking Ahead
Colby theorizes that looking at supply and demand, it’s easy to hypothesize that some of the veterinarians having a difficult time finding a job in the highly competitive areas might move to the areas where there are open jobs with no or fewer applicants.
“Unfortunately, it’s not that simple,” she says. “Changing geographic locations is complicated in any situation, but if the open jobs are in a different practice type or specialty area that adds another layer of complexity to the situation.”
Still, the uptick in grants and loans seems to be helping somewhat and everyone in the industry is working hard to ensure the problem lessens as the years go on.
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