The University of Maine at Fort Kent has received the largest research grant in the institution’s history, securing a five-year, $649,836 total award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture through its Agriculture and Food Research Initiative. The USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative is the nation’s leading competitive grants program supporting research, education and extension projects that address critical challenges facing agriculture, natural resources and rural communities. The grant will support a research project titled “Assessing Forest Readiness for Creating Efficient Biomass Supply Chains: Perceptions on Emerging and Innovative Technologies.” The project is led by Libin Thaikkattil Louis, assistant professor of forestry at UMFK and principal investigator, in collaboration with co-principal investigators Anil Raj Kizha and Adam Daigneault from the University of Maine School of Forest Resources.