PORTLAND, Maine —
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) announced today the allocation of more than two-hundred and sixty-thousand dollars from the United States Department of Agriculture to the University of Maine’s Cooperative Extension.
The program will use the grant to fund a project on “Carcass Management Preparedness Train-the-Trainer Program for Animal Agriculture Sector Responders," which will help them in turn continue research into compost science and the advancements that can continue to be made.
Pingree reflected on why this grant is important to Mainers by saying, “The Cooperative Extension is an important resource for agricultural producers in Maine, yet Extension is constantly facing looming budget cuts, staff shortages, and resource deficiencies. Their support to farmers—which is largely free—is crucial to our state’s agricultural successes,” she later when on to say how she looks forward to seeing the advancements the extension will be able to make on how composting can be used after animal-disease outbreaks.
Hannah Carter, the University of Maine Dean of the Cooperative Extension, released a statement discussing the ways the grant will help the extension, as well as the training that will be offered to the Swine and Poultry industry Nationally on “how to implement compost technologies during a catastrophic event. Composting is becoming widely accepted as an environmentally and sustainable method to management carcass mortalities.”
The grant is from the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program, or NADPRP. This program’s funding supports the capabilities, capacity and readiness of the nation’s animal agriculture sector responders through training and exercises.
This grant is funded in part by the Farm Bill, also known as the Agriculture Improvement Bill, of 2018.
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