2024 National 4-H Conference Information Session

Mark your calendar for the 2024 National 4-H Conference. Join us for an Information Session about 2024 National 4-H Conference on November 16 at 4 p.m. EST. Register Online.

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Help Keep Children and Families Covered

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is asking for help to prevent children and families from losing Medicaid or Children’s Health Insurance Program coverage as a result of the end of the Federal Public Health Emergency.  

Ways Your Organization Can Help 

Partner with your State Medicaid agency to spread the word about renewals. You can find contact information on your State Medicaid agencies here.    

Use CMS’s Communications Toolkit, available in multiple languages, including English and Spanish.

Promote social media content and graphics pulled from CMS’s toolkit on your social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. 

Uplift HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra’s video (in English and Spanish) on Medicaid renewals across your social media channels.

Visit CMS’s website for more resources.

Read More: Impacts of NIFA-funded research and Extension programs on our Blog page.

Award Announcements

NIFA Invests More than $7 Million in Critical Ag Research and Extension

NIFA is investing more than $7 million to 24 projects that will address to improve the nation’s agriculture industry. The CARE program is a crosscutting program in the AFRI Foundational and Applied Science RFA. Crosscutting programs address two or more of the six AFRI priority areas. This program supports projects that involve high quality research and highly effective Extension practices to quickly implement new knowledge and/or practices that improve aspects of the agriculture industry and food production system.

NIFA Announces Technical Assistance Cooperative Agreement

USDA NIFA announces a Cooperative Agreement with LifeStock Inc. to support the Veterinary Services Grants Program and the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program. Specifically, LifeStock, Inc. intends to educate others about these grant programs through visiting and interacting with key stakeholders at four major large-animal veterinary meetings and also at approximately 12 accredited veterinary colleges across the U.S.

Award Announcement Correction

Last week, we incorrectly re-announced the 2022 Veterinary Service Grants Program awards. We anticipate the FY2023 awards will be processed soon and ready to announce.  

• • September 8, 11 a.m. EDT: New Technologies for Ag Extension FY23 Technical Assistance Webinar
• September 28, 3 p.m. EDT: AFRI Predoctoral Fellowships RFA Technical Assistance Q&A Session
• October 3, 11:30 a.m. EDT: Food & Nutrition Security Webinar: Local/Regional Food Systems
• November 2, 2:30 p.m. EDT: Rapid Response to Extreme Weather Events Across Food and Agriculture Systems 
• November 16, 2:30 p.m. EST: 2024 National 4-H Conference Information Session
• December 6, 3 p.m. EST: Transdisciplinary Approaches: The Science of Team Science

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New Research from University of Minnesota Sheds Light on State’s Declining Moose Population

Minnesota saw a 58% decline of the moose population in the northeastern part of the state between 2006 and 2017. A primary driver of the decline is brainworm, a parasite that affects the animal’s nervous system, ultimately leading to paralysis and death.

Researchers from the University of Minnesota and the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa recently discovered evidence that moose in Minnesota consume species of gastropods —slugs and snails—which are known hosts for the brainworm parasite. Although consumption of gastropods has long been considered the mode by which moose become infected with brainworm, this is the first study to empirically document this interaction in a natural setting.

Learn more about this NIFA-supported research.

Moose eating lily pads. Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

USDA Announces More Than $800 Million to Strengthen Rural Infrastructure and Create Jobs

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack  announced recently that USDA is investing $808 million to help rural cooperatives and utilities build and improve electric infrastructure and increase electric grid reliability and security, connecting hundreds of thousands of people in rural areas. This funding will also help provide clean drinking water and sanitary wastewater systems in rural areas for years to come.

The funding will benefit nearly 480,000 people in 36 states and two U.S. territories while building and strengthening rural infrastructure and creating good-paying jobs. Read more.

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Hemp growers seeking more pest management tools now have a conventional pesticide tolerance for hemp seed as a result of work by the Minor Crop Management Program Interregional Research Project #4, or the IR-4 Project, funded by USDA NIFA.