Posts Tagged: grants
UC receives more than $6 million for specialty crop research
University of California researchers will receive more than $6 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2011 Specialty Crop Block Grant program, which is intended to enhance agricultural markets, address environmental concerns, protect plant health, provide farmers with scientifically tested production techniques and increase food safety.
The USDA awarded $55 million nationwide for the Specialty Crop Block Grant program, which provides grants to states to enhance the competitiveness of fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture and nursery crops.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture identified 72 projects in the state for funding, including 30 projects led by University of California agricultural researchers.
“Funding for specialty crop research is critical to California’s $37.5 billion agricultural industry because many of the crops grown in California are considered specialty crops,” said Barbara Allen-Diaz, UC vice president for agriculture and natural resources. “With these funds, UC scientists will be helping California farmers find new ways to protect their crops from pests and diseases, remain economically viable, and provide healthy food for an increasing number of people.”
Highlights include:
- The UC Davis Center for Produce Safety received a combined $1.4 million for food safety projects, many of which will develop strategies to reduce the risk of foodborne illness.
- Assessing temperature conditions to determine the potential for using wind machines as an alternative to sprinklers for frost protection in coastal vineyards with the ultimate goal of reduced water use is the goal of a $59,961 project led by UC Cooperative Extension viticulture advisor Mark Battany in San Luis Obispo County.
- The UC Agricultural Issues Center will be conducting an analysis of the effects of quality control standards and European Union trade policies on the California olive industry, to identify market opportunities as standards and policies change, funded for $135,883.
- The largest single award made to UC in this round was $495,750 to a statewide project that will assess the effects of reduced irrigation on strawberries, blueberries and blackberries -- including berry yield, nutritional content, flavor and consumer preference -- led by researchers with the UC small farm program.
- A project that will train small-scale, Latino, Hmong and Mien growers in Fresno, the Sacramento Valley, the Central Coast and Southern California regions to compete in new markets, led by the UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, received $86,851.
- Developing improved integrated pest management strategies that could help ornamental nurseries protect against the light brown apple moth is the goal of a $255,598 project led by Steve Tjosvold, UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor for Santa Cruz County.
“Many of these projects are collaborative efforts between farmers and scientists from UC campuses, UC Cooperative Extension advisors in counties, and other agencies and educational institutions,” Allen-Diaz said. “This array of expertise focused along the spectrum of specialty crops production will help keep California competitive in the global economy.”
For a complete list of California’s Specialty Crop Block Grants projects, please visit http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/grants.
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Three ANR researchers receive NIFA grants
Three UC Davis researchers will receive grants from USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture for projects to benefit the California specialty-crop industry, according to a UC Davis news release issued yesterday.
The new grants are:
- $2.6 million to study the use of sensors for precision canopy and water management of specialty crops. The lead researcher is professor of biological and agricultural engineering Shrini Upadhyaya, a precision farming expert.
- $2.5 million to develop improved lettuce varieties. The research team, led by Richard Michelmore, director of the UC Davis Genome Center, will explore the genetic basis of horticulturally important traits in lettuce.
- $1.5 million to study the recurrent migration of Verticillium dahliae, a soilborne fungus that causes plant diseases. Researchers will investigate the relationship between international and interstate seed trade and spread of the fungus, as well as the risks of transmitting diseases and causing soil infestations by planting infected spinach and lettuce seed. The lead researcher is plant pathologist and Cooperative Extension specialist Krishna Subbarao. The Salinas Californian ran a story about the project last week.
Photo: Shrini Upadhyaya
USDA provides funds for California specialty crops research
The USDA issued a news release on Friday announcing $55 million in block grants to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops around the country, with California receiving more than $17 million. Of the 64 California projects, 19 are led by researchers affiliated with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources.
A large share of funding - $1.4 million - goes to nine food-safety projects to be coordinated by UC’s Center for Produce Safety, according to an article in the Fresno Bee.
"Scientists and researchers with the University of California and industry groups are exploring everything from whether frogs and lizards are potential carriers of E.coli to whether dust from a cattle operation can carry E.coli into a vegetable field," wrote Bee reporter Robert Rodriguez.
The executive director of the Center for Produce Safety, Bonnie Fernandez, told Rodriguez the funding comes at a time of heightened awareness of food safety among consumers and farmers.
"There are simply a lot of unanswered gaps of knowledge on these issues," Fernandez was quoted. "We want to know where the pathogens came from, how it attaches to a product and how we can reduce the risk of that happening."
Management of exotic pests is another issue where USDA provided funding for UC research, according to the listing on USDA's website. For example, grants will support efforts to:
- Release and evaluate four exotic olive fruit fly parasitoids in order to improve sustainable table and oil olive management
- Test the area-wide application of mating disruption of vine mealybug in Napa County
- Evaluate the efficacy of organic pesticides for Asian Citrus Psyllid control so science-based control recommendations can be made to organic citrus growers
- Survey resistance ratios in olive fruit fly populations from California regions not sampled in a previous study
Funds were also made available to expand and improve the online specialty crop production information now available on UC's Fruit & Nut Research and Information Center website and call-in center.
In addition, the new funding will allow UC researchers to work with several school districts and their regional partners to expand their procurement of local seasonal fresh produce, enhance their ability to integrate a specialty crop nutritional curriculum by providing outreach and professional development to school personnel, and assess changes in food preferences and dietary behaviors of children in participating school.
Other UC projects receiving the funding will look into onion seed production, strawberries' ability to restore impaired insulin, steam injection for soil disinfestation, and mealy plum aphid and leaf-curl plum aphid control in prunes.
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The UC Center for Produce Safety to receive substantial research funds from USDA.
NRCS announces $15 million grant program
The USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service distributed a news release on PR Newsire today that says the agency will fund conservation projects around the nation to the tune of $15 million.
The release featured comments from the California State Conservationist, Ed Burton, who encouraged California farmers and researchers to apply.
"This is a real opportunity for our University of California, California State University and Cooperative Extension offices to help expand our knowledge in key issues facing farmers and ranchers," Burton was quoted in the release.
The competitive Conservation Innovation Grants will fund projects related to:
- Farms and ranches with emerging and traditional ag and natural resource issues
- Market-based approaches to energy conservation
- Methods of tackling climate change
- Solutions to improve water, soil and air quality
- Nutrient management
- Wildlife habitat enhancement
- Pollinator population enhancement
Ten percent of the funding is being set aside for beginning farmers and ranchers, limited resource farmers or ranchers, Indian tribes or community-based organizations that serve these groups, the release said.
Applicants must submit pre-proposals to NRCS national headquarters in Washington, D.C., by April 26.
For details and eligibility requirements, see the NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program Web site.
NRCS Web site.