ANSC's Dr. Biswas and his team to visit farms, sample pathogens and develop new washes and best-practices
Image Credit: Edwin Remsberg
While most American food is no longer grown on farms where chickens scratch the soil next to beds of lush vegetables, traditional "integrated crop-livestock" (ICLF) farms are making a comeback, in part because fresh food from farmers’ markets and co-ops is rising in popularity.
But an older style of agriculture is bringing with it new threats: Antimicrobial resistance and bacterial infections on small farms are also on the rise.
Now, through a new $935,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), a University of Maryland team will set out to improve the safety and quality of pasture food products grown in small ICLFs.
“Many of the folks working on the farm are not properly trained,” said Debrabata Biswas, project director on the grant. For instance, “some chicken processors are not following proper safety procedures like hand washing, changing clothes or boots, or washing with the right kind of water to kill the pathogens, and then they are going back to the produce farm and harvesting spinach or lettuce.”
