Time to Partner Up for Local Food Production Grant

April 24, 2020

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
today announced $9.5 million awarded to 11 collaborative, multi-state
projects to enhance the competitiveness of U.S. specialty crops. The funding
is made possible through the Specialty Crop Multi-State Program (SCMP),
reauthorized by the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (Farm Bill).

SCMP strengthens food safety; seeks new
ways to address plant pests, disease and other crop-specific issues; and
increases marketing opportunities for specialty crops—fruits, vegetables,
tree nuts and dried fruits to horticulture and nursery crops, including floriculture.

Funds are awarded competitively to state
departments of agriculture and entities in nonparticipating states within any
of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, the Commonwealth
of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, and
the U.S. Virgin Islands. Projects funded through SCMP involve at least two
partners located in different states. Examples of this year’s projects
include:

The Arizona Department of Agriculture’s collaboration
with University of Arizona and University of California Cooperative
Extension to advance commercial mushroom production by increasing the
use of local agricultural/industrial wastes as production substrates and
increasing nutritional value of resulting mushrooms grown on modified
substrates and environmental conditions.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture’s
collaboration with the University of California, University of Maryland
Eastern Shore, USDA Agricultural Research Service, University of
Minnesota and the Organic Center to evaluate the food safety impacts of
sheep grazing cover crops, compared to tilled termination of cover crops
and winter fallow, before spinach and cucumber.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer
Services’ collaboration with the University of Florida, the Pennsylvania
State University, and the USDA-ARS to study disease resistance and
diversity to improve lettuce cultivars against bacterial leaf spot (BLS)
through breeding, genetics, and study of the BLS-lettuce interaction.

A full list of grant recipients and their
project descriptions is available on the SCMP Awarded Grants page of the Agricultural
Marketing Service website. To learn more about AMS grant funding to
enhance and strengthen agricultural systems, visit Agricultural Marketing Service: Grants.

For more information, please contact Martin
Rosier at [email protected]

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