The latest happenings from the UVM College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Livestock and poultry are susceptible to infectious diseases and many of these diseases are zoonotic, meaning they can be transmitted to people. A few more well-known zoonotic diseases include ringworm, rabies and soremouth. The most effective strategy for protecting farm animal health is to prevent or reduce the chances of introducing a disease into a herd or flock. Continue reading “Youth Biosecurity Learning Modules Recently Updated”
We have recently witnessed how a human epidemic like COVID-19 can impact animal protein supply chains. A highly contagious disease of food animals themselves could result in even more disruption of those supply chains. An example of such a disease is foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). An outbreak of FMD would directly impact all farmers with cattle, pigs, and small ruminants and indirectly affect all related segments of agriculture. Continue reading “Smith Projects Aim to Secure the Animal-Based Food Supply in New England”
Animal and Veterinary Sciences Research Associate Professor Julie Smith, and Plant and Soil Science Research Assistant Professor Scott Merrill have been awarded $1 million dollars for a three-year research and outreach project funded through the USDA NIFA Tactical Sciences for Agricultural Biosecurity program. Continue reading “Livestock Disease Preparedness a Goal for Tactical Sciences Grant”
UVM Extension’s New Farmer Project and Women’s Agricultural Network received a three-year, $600,000 USDA Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) grant. The funding will enable the delivery of education and decision support tools to beginning farmers and ranchers that will help them increase labor management knowledge and confidence. The program will also help beginner farmers adopt employee recruitment, supervision and retention practices to improve farm business performance and/or farmer satisfaction with quality of life. Continue reading “New Farmer Project & Women’s Ag Network Grant Funded”
Community Development and Applied Economics Professor Asim Zia, in collaboration with researchers from the departments of Animal and Veterinary Sciences and Computer Science, has received a $2.5 million grant from USDA NIFA for livestock disease risk management research. The transdisciplinary project is entitled, Predicting Livestock Disease Transmission Dynamic Under Alternate Biosecurity Risk Management Interventions and Behavioral Responses of Livestock Producers in the U.S. Continue reading “Asim Zia Leads Livestock Disease Risk Management Research”