USDA Awards Grants for Specialty Crop Research

U.S. Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced the 28 grants of the National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) for research and extension activities which focus on solving specialty crop issues.

"The specialty crop industry plays an enormously important part in American agriculture and is valued at approximately $50 billion every year," said Sec. Merrigan. "These projects will help provide specialty crop producers with the information and tools they need to successfully grow, process, and market safe and high quality products."

NIFA granted over $46 million through the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI), which was established by the 2008 Farm Bill in support of the specialty crops industry which includes fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, horticulture and nursery crops. The funded projects focus on two or more of the following key areas:

• improve crop characteristics through plant breeding, genetics and genomics
• address threats from pests and diseases
• improve production efficiency, productivity and profitability
• develop new innovations and technologies; and
• develop methods to improve food safety.

SCRI gives priority to projects that are "multistate, multi-institutional or trans-disciplinary" and incorporate techniques to communicate the results to producers and consumers.

Read USDA's press release at http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentidonly=true&contentid=2010/10/0555.xml.