Latest news with #SeaGrant
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
University of Maryland Names Wendy Powers Dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
COLLEGE PARK, Md., May 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of Maryland has named Wendy Powers as Dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, effective July 1, 2025. As Dean, Powers will build on the college's more than 150-year history to promote a culture of impactful scholarship and student success, advancing opportunities for interdisciplinary research and educational partnerships that support the university's land-grant mission. Powers will work with faculty, staff and students across the college to advance its strategic commitments to serve the public good, steward a healthy planet, feed and nourish communities and build a sustainable tomorrow, serving the state of Maryland and beyond. As dean, Powers will also serve as director of the Agricultural Experiment Station and University of Maryland Extension (UME). With four major program areas—Agriculture and Food Systems; Environment, Natural Resources and Sea Grant; 4-H Youth Development; and Family and Consumer Sciences—UME provides Maryland residents grassroots-level support in their communities, on their fields and in their homes. UME has offices in every Maryland county and Baltimore City, and four research and education centers across the state. "Dr. Powers possesses an exceptional track record in leading agricultural colleges to achieve remarkable success in fulfilling their core mission of serving communities," said Senior Vice President and Provost Jennifer King Rice. "I am confident that her leadership will bring similar success to the University of Maryland, propelling the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources into its next phase of excellence." Powers joins UMD from Washington State University (WSU), where she serves as the inaugural Cashup Davis Family Endowed Dean of the College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences. In this role, Powers leads the college's 13 departments and schools, serving more than 2,500 undergraduate and graduate students, and the WSU Extension, which has more than 40 offices and four research and extension centers across the state. "I am thrilled to join the University of Maryland, one of the most prestigious land-grant research universities in the nation, to build upon more than a century of work to serve the public good," said Powers. "I look forward to collaborating with communities on campus and beyond to build new and innovative opportunities for students, faculty and staff to the benefit of the people of Maryland and around the world." As Dean, Powers led the development of a new vision for the college in support of its land-grant mission, emphasizing the university's role in building a more resilient state and highlighting the college's societal impacts. During her time at WSU, the college has consistently secured more than $20 million annually in gifts and foundation funds, and exceeded $100 million in grant expenditures for the first time. The college also grew its national ranking from No. 15 to No. 12. Prior to WSU, Powers served as associate vice president for the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of California, where she led academic, research and outreach programs, overseeing county-based cooperative extension outreach, 12 statewide programs and institutes, and nine research and extension centers across California. Powers began her career at Iowa State University as an assistant professor and extension specialist. She then joined Michigan State University as a full professor in the departments of Animal Science, and Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, extension specialist, and director of environmental stewardship for animal agriculture in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. She was the first director of the Agriculture and Agribusiness Institute for Michigan State University Extension. She has served in national leadership positions throughout her career, in professional societies, and on technical committees to develop policy guidance. Her scholarship is centered around reducing environmental impacts of the livestock industry. Powers holds a B.S. in animal science from Cornell University, and an M.S. in dairy science and Ph.D. in animal science from the University of Florida. About the University of MarylandThe University of Maryland (UMD) is the state's flagship university and a leading public research institution, propelled by a $1.3 billion joint research enterprise. Located four miles from Washington, D.C., the university is dedicated to addressing the grand challenges of our time and is the nation's first Do Good campus. It is driven by a diverse and proudly inclusive community of more than 50,000 fearless Terrapins. UMD is a top producer of Fulbright scholars and offers an unparalleled student experience with more than 300 academic programs, 25 living-learning programs and 400 study abroad programs. Spurred by a culture of innovation and creativity, UMD faculty are global leaders in their field and include Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners and members of the national academies. For more information about the University of Maryland, visit View original content: SOURCE University of Maryland Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
University of Maine receives restored Sea Grant funding
Students from Sacopee Valley High School visit Bang's Island Mussel and Kelp Farm as part of Maine Sea Grant's new Bringing the Sea to Inland and Rural Communities program. (Photo by Maine Sea Grant) After an abrupt cancellation, funding for the Maine Sea Grant has been restored. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration notified the University of Maine this week that it was awarding three more years of funding for the Maine Sea Grant, according to a news release from the university Friday. The money for the upcoming year was made available immediately, while the remaining two years of funding will be contingent on future appropriations from Congress. 'This vital funding for Maine Sea Grant is not a cost,' said lobsterman and marine biologist Curt Brown, in the release. 'It is an investment in the future of Maine's coastal industries and communities, an investment that has paid dividends for decades and will continue to support these iconic industries for generations to come.' Maine's Sea Grant program is one of 34 across coastal and Great Lakes states throughout the country. It has helped finance statewide research, strengthened coastal communities and supported thousands of jobs over more than five decades. The restoration of funding comes after the university received a letter in late February stating that NOAA was immediately discontinuing funding for the $4.5 million Maine Sea Grant because the grant's work was 'no longer relevant to the focus of the Administration's priorities and program objectives.' Maine's program seems to have been the only one in the country affected. The decision came about a week after President Donald Trump threatened Gov. Janet Mills during a heated exchange over the state not complying with an executive order barring transgender students from competing in women's athletics. Multiple members of Maine's congressional delegation pushed back on the decision, calling for its reversal. For example, independent Sen. Angus King and Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree wrote a letter to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick demanding he immediately reverse the 'reckless decision' to terminate the federal grant that boosts research and economic development for coastal communities. Republican Sen. Susan Collins also spoke with Lutnick about how Maine's coastal communities could be hurt by ending that funding. Following that conversation, Vice Admiral Nancy Hann issued a memo that the department would renegotiate the Maine Sea Grant, according to a news release from Collins' office. 'The groundswell of support for Maine Sea Grant and the stories that have surfaced about its incredible impact on our state's working waterfronts have been extraordinary and effective,' said UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy. In line with the original four-year agreement, the award from the U.S. Department of Commerce this week was just shy of $1.5 million, the release said. That money will be matched by nearly $810,000 from non-federal sources, including industry and state research funding, as is required by the program. If Congress continues to fund the National Sea Grant College Program, it will provide $3 million in additional funding to the Maine Sea Grant through Jan. 31, 2028. That would be matched by another $1.6 million, the release added. That money will allow the Maine Sea Grant to continue fostering coastal workforce development, hands-on marine science education for students of all grade levels, research to inform lobster and other fisheries management, as well as storm preparedness for working waterfronts. Every federal dollar spent to support those activities resulted in $15 of economic activity in the state, amounting to a total annual impact of $23.5 million in 2023, the release said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Washington Post
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Trump plan would eliminate NOAA climate research, slash agency budget
A new Trump proposal would eliminate nearly all National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration labs focused on studying the world's weather, climate and oceans and would slash much of the agency's budget — part of what the White House document describes as an effort to sever all 'climate-related programs' from the agency. Documents detailing the administration's proposal, reviewed by The Washington Post, would cut NOAA's $6.1 billion budget by 27 percent overall, while effectively eliminating a research branch of the agency whose mission is to improve weather and climate forecasts, natural disaster warnings and otherwise improve understanding of the natural world. The programs 'misaligned with the President's agenda and the expressed will of the American people,' the document says. With the plan, the Trump administration significantly accelerated its attacks on climate science, while also opening itself up to further criticism that it is handicapping the country's ability to protect itself from natural disasters by cutting crucial and popular weather forecasting programs. If enacted, Democrats and science advocates argue the plan would make weather forecasts less accurate and would endanger communities vulnerable to extreme weather. The budget proposal includes flat funding for the National Weather Service, while also adding to its responsibilities by transferring some weather research from NOAA, its parent agency, into NWS. It would cut research focused on seasonal climate trends that is vital to meteorologists' ability to forecast disasters like wildfire and tornado outbreaks or droughts. 'NOAA's efforts inform our national disaster preparedness, weather forecasting, environmental threat management, and more,' Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) said in a statement. 'This move has nothing to do with efficiency – and in fact, it will endanger our communities and leave us all more vulnerable to destructive and costly natural disasters.' A NOAA spokesman reached for comment referred The Post to officials at the Department of Commerce, which oversees NOAA, and the Office of Budget and Management. 'No final funding decisions have been made,' budget office spokeswoman Alexandra McCandless said in an email. The proposal is the Trump administration's opening salvo in negotiations with Congress over the federal budget for the fiscal year starting in October. Lawmakers could make changes, or could fail to act on the budget plan at all and operate the government under stopgap funding measures, as is currently the case. The proposed budget cuts were first reported by CNN. The administration is proposing to zero out funding for programs including all NOAA labs related to climate, weather and oceans, including 16 cooperative institutes housed at universities across the country; regional climate data centers that track historic weather conditions across the country; and Sea Grant programs focused on coastal environments and economies. It would transfer many NOAA functions to other agencies. A National Marine Fisheries Service office focused on protecting vulnerable species would be moved to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Space Weather Prediction Center, responsible for forecasting geomagnetic storms that can wreak havoc on GPS and communication systems, to the Department of Homeland Security. Rick Spinrad, who served as NOAA administrator under President Joe Biden, said such moves seemed to introduce new inefficiencies and hurdles for scientists. 'It almost looks like an AI-generated budget,' he said, 'eliminating anything associated with climate' even if it had little to do with climate change. The budget document also calls for some immediate actions. It orders NOAA to halt any spending on a program to develop the next generation of geostationary satellites, which provide a constant picture of weather across the U.S. as they remain in fixed positions flying above North America. The document said 'proactive action' was needed 'to address unsustainable costs in NOAA's satellite acquisition programs.' And the document also calls for NOAA to develop a plan within the next two weeks under which its Office of Space Commerce would cede responsibility for tracking the traffic of spacecraft, satellites and space junk to a 'non-government entity, whether it be a private sector partner or a non-profit consortium.' Project 2025, a playbook for a second Trump administration spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, had drawn attention for a call to privatize many of the functions of the Weather Service. So far, the administration has not taken such steps, though its efforts to reduce the federal workforce and review agencies' spending have left many Weather Service offices more strapped than usual. 'The Weather Service is flat funded, but it is not held harmless,' Spinrad said. Project 2025 also called for the dismantling of NOAA, an agency the report called 'one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry.' The proposal comes as the Trump administration made separate recent cuts to a NOAA research partnership with Princeton University, citing a need to combat 'climate anxiety,' and to a government office tasked with a report released every four years detailing the ways climate change is affecting the country. The climate data collected by NOAA is used by a range of Americans, from farmers planning their crops to communities preparing for worsening wildfires and more severe storms. It also serves as a foundation for much of climate scientists' work around the world, because it spans decades and is so comprehensive, said Joeri Rogelj, a climate scientist at Imperial College London. Scientists rely on NOAA datasets to evaluate changes in Earth's climate, and use it as a benchmark for advanced models that assess the consequences of future planetary warming. 'The information provided by NOAA represents the factual backbone of how we know that our climate is changing,' Rogelj said. Sarah Kaplan contributed to this report.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
How Trump's actions have most impacted Maine
Apr. 7—In just a few months in office, President Donald Trump has already signed dozens of executive orders, slashed the federal workforce and funding for government programs and gotten into a feud with Maine over transgender athletes in girls sports. Supporters of the president have said they're happy to see him keep campaign promises, especially around immigration and government spending. A poll of Maine voters released in late March by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center found 94% of Republicans approve of Trump's performance so far, though only 42% of all voters are happy with the president's actions. Critics say Trump has overstepped his power and that his policies and cuts undermine important government work and human rights protections. Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey has joined a coalition of Democratic attorneys general in several multistate lawsuits against the Trump administration over federal funding, education jobs, birthright citizenship and other issues. Here are some of the things Trump has done so far that have most impacted Maine. ENDING MAINE SEA GRANT FUNDING The administration in early March announced it would end a four-year agreement for $4.5 million in funding for the Maine Sea Grant program overseen by the University of Maine. The program runs business development, research, marine science education and outreach related to fisheries, seafood and coastal communities. The move came amid White House efforts to slash the budget of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which funds Maine's Sea Grant and similar programs around the country, and sent shockwaves through Maine's fisheries industry. The administration has since released unspent grant funding from the first year of the award so that the program can operate for the immediate future. It has said the grant will be renegotiated, and Maine has submitted an updated proposal for second-year funding that was still pending as of early April. SOCIAL SECURITY CHANGE, POSSIBLE CUTS The U.S. Social Security Administration briefly suspended the practice allowing parents to register their newborns for a Social Security number at the hospital, instead requiring them to visit one of the state's eight Social Security offices. The administration reversed course a day later after an outcry from Maine and criticism from the state's congressional delegation. Acting Social Security Administrator Lee Dudek has since said he specifically targeted Maine — the only state impacted by the change — because he was bothered by a tense exchange between Trump and Gov. Janet Mills over Maine's policy on transgender athletes. Trump's Department of Government Efficiency and Elon Musk have also called for cuts to Social Security staffing and its budget. The administration has denied it has any plans to close field offices, though some in Maine are worried about the possible closure of Aroostook County's only office after it was included on a recent list of federal properties that could be sold. The list was later removed from the internet. FINDINGS OF TITLE IX VIOLATIONS A Republican state lawmaker's viral Facebook post about a transgender athlete's win in a high school girls track championship in February was followed by Trump calling for the state to change its policy on transgender athletes and a heated exchange between the president and Mills at a White House event. The U.S. departments of Education, Health and Human Services and Agriculture all announced investigations into Maine after the administration alleged the state had violated the federal anti-discrimination law known as Title IX. The USDA halted spending to programs in the University of Maine System in March in a move it said was part of a compliance review, then said it would reinstate the funding. On March 19, the agency sent out a news release saying it was satisfied with the system's Title IX policies and that its schools would be able to access federal funds going forward. However, the agency then announced April 2 that it would be freezing education funds to Maine in response to alleged Title IX violations in schools. The U.S. DHHS has referred Maine to the Department of Justice after the Maine Department of Education, Maine Principals' Association and Greely High School refused to sign a proposed agreement that would have required the state to stop allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls sports. Maine officials have said that doing so would be in violation of the Maine Human Rights Act, while the Trump administration has presented a new interpretation of Title IX in its argument that allowing transgender athletes to compete violates the rights of girls. On March 31, the U.S. Department of Education issued a "final warning" to Maine, giving the state until April 11 to agree to ban transgender athletes from girls sports. If not, the department has said it would also turn its findings over to the Department of Justice for enforcement. In addition to prompting debate over Maine's policy of allowing transgender athletes to compete, the back-and-forth between federal and state officials threatens millions of dollars in federal funding for Maine, which Trump has said he will pull if the state does not comply. In the 2024 fiscal year alone, the Maine Department of Education received $283 million in federal funding and spent $467 million in federal dollars including money that had been awarded in previous years. HEALTH CARE CUTBACKS The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said it will lay off at least 40 subcontracted workers as a result of the federal government slashing more than $11 billion nationwide in public health initiatives funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. About $91 million in grants for the Maine CDC and Maine DHHS are expected to be impacted. That includes $88 million in cuts at the Maine CDC and $3 million in cuts to initiatives to combat substance use disorder. Impacted services at the Maine CDC include vaccine distribution, public education, disease monitoring and response, laboratory testing, outbreak management, asthma education, rural health services and reducing inequities among vulnerable populations, such as minorities and rural residents. On March 31, the Trump administration also announced a freeze on Title X funds, which pay for family planning services and reproductive health care, not including abortions. The freeze impacts about $2 million for clinics in Maine, which have said it will affect tens of thousands of uninsured and low-income patients' access to birth control, STD testing and HIV and behavioral health services. REDUCING THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE Trump has prioritized reducing the size and scope of the federal government, something supporters have applauded as a move toward greater efficiency, while critics have warned of unintended consequences and a loss of services with cutbacks. Efforts to reduce the federal workforce have been felt in Maine, where about 11,000 federal workers are employed. Seven employees at the Togus Veterans Administration Medical Center in Augusta were laid off in February as part of a reduction of the national workforce. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has said it plans to cut about 80,000 positions by June, further reducing the agency's workforce, which now totals 470,000 jobs. Eight workers at Acadia National Park were also laid off in February, representing a 10% reduction of year-round staff for one of the state's busiest tourist destinations. And the city of Portland lost a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention worker who was embedded in the Public Health Division and who worked on emergency preparedness and public outreach. A Trump executive order aiming to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services "to the maximum extent" allowable under law, threatens the long-term employment status of 13 of the 44 staff positions at the Maine State Library as well as services for libraries around the state. TARIFFS ON CARS AND OTHER GOODS Trump has announced sweeping plans for tariffs, including a a minimum 10% tax on all foreign goods and steeper penalties for countries the administration says have treated the U.S. unfairly. A 25% tariff on all imported cars and car parts took effect on April 3. The president has promised that factory jobs will return to the United States as a result of the taxes, but his policies risk causing a sudden economic slowdown as consumers and businesses could face sharp price hikes on autos, clothes and other goods. Auto dealerships in Maine said there will be a one or two month delay until the impacts are felt, but that by June consumers are likely to see higher costs for both new and used vehicles, as the market for used cars will become more competitive. Trump's tariffs could also impact Maine's relationship with Canada, its largest trading partner and the source of 80% of the state's gasoline and heating fuel. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins has criticized the tariffs on Canadian goods, saying they would raise the prices Mainers pay for food, gas and fuel, and threaten a wide range of industries that employ hundreds of Mainers, including paper mills, forest products, the lobster industry and farming. About $900 billion worth of goods cross the U.S.-Canadian border every year. Copy the Story Link
Asharq Al-Awsat
29-03-2025
- Health
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Plastics Are Seeping into Farm Fields, Food and Eventually Human Bodies. Can They Be Stopped?
In Uganda's Mbale district, famous for its production of arabica coffee, a plague of plastic bags locally known as buveera is creeping beyond the city. It's a problem that has long littered the landscape in Kampala, the capital, where buveera are woven into the fabric of daily life. They show up in layers of excavated dirt roads and clog waterways. But now, they can be found in remote areas of farmland, too. Some of the debris includes the thick plastic bags used for planting coffee seeds in nurseries. Some farmers are complaining, said Wilson Watira, head of a cultural board for the coffee-growing Bamasaba people. 'They are concerned – those farmers who know the effects of buveera on the land,' he said. Around the world, plastics find their way into farm fields. Climate change makes agricultural plastic, already a necessity for many crops, even more unavoidable for some farmers. Meanwhile, research continues to show that itty-bitty microplastics alter ecosystems and end up in human bodies. Scientists, farmers and consumers all worry about how that's affecting human health, and many seek solutions. But industry experts say it's difficult to know where plastic ends up or get rid of it completely, even with the best intentions of reuse and recycling programs. According to a 2021 report on plastics in agriculture by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, soils are one of the main receptors of agricultural plastics. Some studies have estimated that soils are more polluted by microplastics than the oceans. 'These things are being released at such a huge, huge scale that it's going to require major engineering solutions,' said Sarah Zack, an Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Great Lakes Contaminant Specialist who communicates about microplastics to the public. Micro-particles of plastic that come from items like clothes, medications and beauty products sometimes appear in fertilizer made from the solid byproducts of wastewater treatment — called biosolids — which can also be smelly and toxic to nearby residents depending on the treatment process used. Some seeds are coated in plastic polymers designed to strategically disintegrate at the right time of the season, used in containers to hold pesticides or stretched over fields to lock in moisture. But the agriculture industry itself only accounts for a little over three percent of all plastics used globally. About 40% of all plastics are used in packaging, including single-use plastic food and beverage containers. Microplastics, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration defines as being smaller than five millimeters long, are their largest at about the size of a pencil eraser. Some are much smaller. Studies have already shown that microplastics can be taken up by plants on land or plankton in the ocean and subsequently eaten by animals or humans. Scientists are still studying the long-term effects of the plastic that's been found in human organs, but early findings suggest possible links to a host of health conditions including heart disease and some cancers. Despite 'significant research gaps,' the evidence related to the land-based food chain 'is certainly raising alarm,' said Lev Neretin, environment lead at the FAO, which is currently working on another technical report looking deeper into the problem of microplastic pollution in soils and crops. A study out this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that microplastics pollution can even impact plants' ability to photosynthesize, the process by which they turn light from the sun into energy. That doesn't 'justify excessive concern' but does 'underscore food security risks that necessitate scientific attention,' wrote Fei Dang, one of the study's authors. The use of plastics has quadrupled over the past 30 years. Plastic is ubiquitous. And most of the world's plastic goes to landfills, pollutes the environment or is burned. Less than 10% of plastics are recycled. At the same time, some farmers are becoming more reliant on plastics to shelter crops from the effects of extreme weather. They're using tarps, hoop houses and other technology to try to control conditions for their crops. And they're depending more on chemicals like pesticides and fertilizers to buffer against unreliable weather and more pervasive pest issues. 'Through global warming, we have less and less arable land to make crops on. But we need more crops. So therefore the demand on agricultural chemicals is increasing,' said Ole Rosgaard, president and CEO of Greif, a company that makes packaging used for industrial agriculture products like pesticides and other chemicals. Extreme weather, fueled by climate change, also contributes to the breakdown and transport of agricultural plastics. Beating sun can wear on materials over time. And more frequent and intense rainfall events in some areas could drive more plastic particles running into fields and eventually waterways, said Maryam Salehi, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Missouri. This past winter, leaders from around the world gathered in South Korea to produce the first legally binding global treaty on plastics pollution. They didn't reach an agreement, but the negotiations are scheduled to resume in August. Neretin said the FAO produced a provisional, voluntary code of conduct on sustainable management of plastics in agriculture. But without a formal treaty in place, most countries don't have a strong incentive to follow it. 'The mood is certainly not cheery, that's for sure,' he said, adding global cooperation 'takes time, but the problem does not disappear.' Without political will, much of the onus falls on companies. Rosgaard, of Greif, said that his company has worked to make their products recyclable, and that farmers have incentives to return them because they can get paid in exchange. But he added it's sometimes hard to prevent people from just burning the plastic or letting it end up in fields or waterways. 'We just don't know where they end up all the time,' he said. Some want to stop the flow of plastic and microplastic waste into ecosystems. Boluwatife Olubusoye, a PhD candidate at the University of Mississippi, is trying to see whether biochar, remains of organic matter and plant waste burned under controlled conditions, can filter out microplastics that run from farm fields into waterways. His early experiments have shown promise. He said he was motivated by the feeling that there was 'never any timely solution in terms of plastic waste" ending up in fields in the first place, especially in developing countries. Even for farmers who care about plastics in soils, it can be challenging for them to do anything about it. In Uganda, owners of nursery beds cannot afford proper seedling trays, so they resort to cheaply made plastic bags used to germinate seeds, said Jacob Ogola, an independent agronomist there. Farmers hardest hit by climate change are least able to reduce the presence of cheap plastic waste in soils. That frustrates Innocent Piloya, an agroecology entrepreneur who grows coffee in rural Uganda with her company Ribbo Coffee. "It's like little farmers fighting plastic manufacturers,' she said.
