WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King announced today that the University of Maine will receive a grant award of $11,902 for food research from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This investment, provided through the USDA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), will support a project titled, “Investigating Diversity as a Climate Resilience Strategy for Potato and Grain Systems Using DSSAT and Collaborative Modeling.”
 
“This investment will enhance the University of Maine’s critical research that helps ensure the strength of our state’s agricultural sector,” said Senators Collins and King in a joint statement.  “Maine is fortunate to have an institution like the University of Maine, whose researchers develop cutting-edge science and technology that grows our economy and improves lives.”
 
The AFRI is charged with funding research, education, and extension grants that address key problems of national, regional, and multi-state importance in sustaining all components of agriculture, including farm efficiency and profitability, ranching, renewable energy, forestry (both urban and agroforestry), aquaculture, rural communities and entrepreneurship, human nutrition, food safety, biotechnology, and conventional breeding.

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