AGNR team receives $935,000 from USDA to reduce the presence of pathogens and combat antimicrobial resistance in integrated crop-livestock farms
Debrabata Biswas with Berry Byproduct
Image Credit: Edwin Remsberg
Most American food is no longer grown on those picturesque farms where chickens cluck and scratch the soil next to beds of lush vegetables, and goats and pigs bleat and oink in their nearby pens. But such "integrated crop-livestock" farms are making a comeback, and supplying meat and produce to more and more people, especially through farmers’ markets and co-ops. But today, the production of animals and plants in close proximity poses health risks to consumers that farmers of an earlier time may never have faced, as antimicrobial resistance and bacterial infections are becoming more common on small farms.
Now, through a new $935,000 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), a University of Maryland team will set out to eliminate some of the shortcomings of ICLF’s. Through a variety of applied tactics, they aim to improve the safety and quality of pasture food products grown in small ICLFs, giving statewide farmers and consumers greater confidence in the food they grow and eat.
“We have found that many pathogens are highly present in integrated small farm products,” said Dr. Debabrata Biswas, project director on the grant. “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. Many of the folks working on the farm are not properly trained.”
To reduce the presence of pathogens and combat antimicrobial resistance, Biswas and his team will visit at least a dozen farms across the state with three core objectives in mind.
First is to see where these pathogens are coming from and how they are actually contaminating the product. It will be a year-long process where they will collect and test on-farm samples of pathogenic Listeria and Campylobacter. They will determine the antimicrobial pattern and see which samples are resistant to antibiotics and which ones aren’t. They will also determine the prevalence of these pathogens in post-harvest food products at farmers’ markets and on-farm retail stores. This will be complemented by an assessment of the microbiome profile of manure, compost, and amended soils that fertilize on-farm crops.
Next is to develop a produce washing method using citrus oil or a berry byproduct called pomace, which comes from juice or dry fruits. Dr. Biswas’s team has run tests and proven that, on a small scale, citrus oil and phenolic extract of berry byproducts do kill both pathogenic bacteria, including Listeria and Campylobacter. However, depending on the bacteria, they need to figure out the optimal concentration and temperature, and the duration of treatment. Affordability for the farmer is also a key component.
The final objective is on-farm training and education to be conducted by colleagues from Frostburg State and University of Maryland Extension. Project director and Co-directors plan to train and advise farmers on practices like safe dumping of waste-water, washing, proper composting practices, and much more, in order to improve on-farm food safety practices and reduce contamination in the post-harvest stage.
“We need to go to the farms and talk to them one by one, and we’ll organize several symposiums and workshops as well, “Dr. Biswas said. “This will be a very important part of the process to ensure that our work has an applied benefit.”
Once the project is complete, Dr. Biswas plans to publish his team’s findings and recommendations on an open-access website. Only a small sampling of farms will be involved in the three-year project, but the end goal is to provide this data for all ICLF operators to access.
