{"id":1211,"date":"2014-02-24T10:35:27","date_gmt":"2014-02-24T15:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/?p=1211"},"modified":"2024-05-05T12:49:30","modified_gmt":"2024-05-05T16:49:30","slug":"silver-tracks-fall-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2014\/02\/24\/silver-tracks-fall-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Silver Tracks Fall 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t
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Silver Tracks Fall 2014<\/a><\/h1>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t
Updated
11.16.23<\/span><\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t
DownloadSilver Tracks Fall 2014<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n
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$8,000,000 Bond Referendum to Create Animal\/Plant Disease & Insect Control Laboratory on Ballot this November<\/h3>\n

Question 2:<\/strong> Do you favor an $8,000,000 bond issue to support Maine agriculture, facilitate economic growth in natural resource based industries, and monitor human health threats related to ticks, mosquitoes, and bedbugs through the creation of an Animal and Plant Disease and Insect Control Laboratory administered by University of Maine Cooperative Extension?<\/em><\/p>\n

Maine’s agricultural economy is the largest in New England. The numbers of farms and the acreage under production are increasing. The growth in the number of young farmers is over 40% in the past five years. Food production and processing is a growth sector of the Maine economy.<\/p>\n

This lab will help protect Maine food producers and processors with monitoring, testing and education. Through the combination of agricultural, residential, and public health resources, a new lab will impact Maine citizens from all walks of life. The new lab\u2019s unique combination of insect, plant, and animal diagnostics will provide an exceptional teaching opportunity for students, as well as premiere research and outreach facilities. The lab will actively support the work of many state agencies including the Department of Marine Resources, Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Agriculture Conservation and Forestry, Health and Human Services and the Maine Center for Disease Control.<\/p>\n

\"Deer
Deer tick and nymph<\/em>
Photo from University of Maine Cooperative Extension<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The expanding tick population and the resulting increase in the reported cases of Lyme disease and other serious illnesses is a prime example of the importance of this new laboratory. Presently, the Insect and Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab is now operating the only tick identification program in the entire state. The new lab would allow testing for Lyme and other disease causing organisms.<\/p>\n

Just this year, the University of Maine Cooperative Extension<\/strong> became the new home of the state\u2019s tick identification program. Portland\u2019s Maine Medical Center, which handled the program for 25 years, eliminated the service last December due to funding deficits. UMaine Extension\u2019s Insect and Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab, which identifies 3,000 plant, pest and insect species each year, expanded its services to compensate for Maine Medical Center\u2019s cut by creating the Tick ID Lab, which began operation April 1.<\/p>\n

The Animal\/Plant Disease and Insect Control Laboratory will help:<\/strong><\/p>\n