Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Cows graze at Rich-Lou Farms in?Martinsburg last week. A training course for agricultural disasters will help farmers, veterinarians and emergency responders learn how to handle a mass animal fatality.

An animal disease outbreak could threaten the nation’s food supply and economy, but many emergency responders aren’t trained to handle an agricultural disaster. A training course for such disasters is coming to the area — the first of its kind in the state, said Dan Boyles, director of the Blair County Emergency Management Agency. Officials from the AgPreparedness Center, based at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, will present the course from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the Penn State Devorris Downtown Center. A course will also be held from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday at the Clearfield County Emergency Management Agency offices, Clearfield. “I’ve been in this field for 21 years, and we’ve never had a course like this,” Boyles said. “We’ve never experienced mass casualties and fatalities with domestic animals in central Pennsylvania, and we need to start learning how to manage a situation like tha.