On this episode of the Maine Farmcast, Colt visited the National Swine Education and Outreach Conference in Kansas City, Missouri where he got the chance to sit down with fellow swine enthusiast, Casey Zangaro, Swine Extension Educator for Michigan State University.

Extension agents from Michigan, Maine, Iowa, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania worked together to acquire a grant from the National Pork Board to gather information about small scale swine producers and veterinarians from across the country. Through surveys and focus groups. Over the course of this podcast, we will highlight some of the most interesting concerns highlighted by producers and veterinarians.

The objectives of the National Pork Board’s Swine Education and Outreach Grant program are:

• Drive state and regional execution of national producer priorities, as identified in the annual industry planning process.
• Facilitate greater swine/pork education reach for under-served states and producers.
• Increase interaction with all segments of pork production and/or operation types.
• Enhance collaboration and coordination among industry, research, and Extension nationwide.
• Support Swine Outreach and Education Professionals as a critical part of a successful national system executed at the local level.
• Leverage expertise of Extension with Checkoff funding.
• Strengthen the partnership between the National Pork Board and Swine Education and Outreach Professionals.
• Advance and enhance the workforce pipeline for industry, research and Extension.
• Expand new and alternative platforms for education deployment.

To learn more about the grant, please visit:
https://porkcheckoff.org/about/leadership-opportunities/swine-education-outreach-professional/seop-grant/

To learn more about Casey Zangaro, please visit:
https://www.canr.msu.edu/people/casey-zangaro

Results of the grant will be published soon, and we will include a link when those are ready.

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