Sen. Charles E. Schumer visited a Liv­ingston County dairy farm Tuesday to an­nounce his support for a company situated on the farm that reduces cow manure into orga­nic compost.

The senator is sup­porting Worm Power’s application for Small B usiness Innovation Research grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Science Foun­dation. Such grants would help the Avon company work with Cornell University’s agricultural experts to develop a sprayable form of compost to coat seeds.

This method of di­gesting manure by worms to turn it into what’s called “vermi­compost” has shown to be effective in control­ling diseases as well as fertilizing the soil, ac­cording to a statement from Schumer. Worm Power is seek­ing $148,000 from the USDA and $99,000 from NSF.
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