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Source: USDA, 9/15/21 The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced today an investment of over $30 million for 33 grants that support farmers and ranchers who grow and market high-quality organic food, fiber and other organic products. This investment is part of NIFA’s Organic Agriculture Program.NIFA’s investment in Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative projects will help fund research, education and extension projects to improve yields, quality and profitability for producers and processors who have adopted organic standards. NIFA’s investment in Organic Transitions Program projects will support research, education and extension efforts to help existing and transitioning organic livestock and crop producers adopt organic practices and improve their market competitiveness. “As we work together to build a diverse, resilient and robust agricultural supply chain and ensure nutrition security for all Americans, these grants will support research and extension efforts at local universities to provide valuable information and training, especially for local, small farmers and producers,” said NIFA Director Dr. Carrie Castille. Examples
of the 22 funded Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative grants include:
- The demand for organic rice in the
U.S. exceeds domestic supply and leads to significant import competition.
University of Arkansas will lead efforts to expand organic rice production
in the U.S. and develop a multistate outreach program to share information
generated by this project. ($456,111)
- University of Vermont will work with
both the organic dairy industry and the organic aquaculture industry to
further develop a partnership for feeding organic seaweed to cows, while
financially benefiting both markets in a sustainable manner. ($2,900,000)
- To help drive down expensive organic
pig production feed and bedding costs and reduce negative environmental
impacts, University of Minnesota will develop strategies to optimize
winter hybrid rye production, evaluate nutritional value of hybrid rye fed
to pigs, determine its effects on meat quality, and examine the economic
and environmental impacts of integrating hybrid rye into organic pig
production systems. ($1,433,820)
Examples
of the 11 funded Organic Transitions
Program grants include:
- University of Wisconsin will lead a
multi-state, multi-disciplinary project to implement a systems approach to
overcome challenges faced by growers transitioning to organic strawberry
production, aiming to increase and sustain organic day-neutral strawberry
production in the Upper Midwest. ($525,000)
- Oregon State University will use
essential oils to develop products to suppress or prevent potato sprouting
in organic potatoes to address an important industry issue related to
organic potato storage and control of premature sprouting. ($595,000)
- Middle Tennessee State University will
evaluate the effectiveness of biological control microbial agents and
botanical extracts on fungal disease prevention and treatment for organic
American Ginseng production. ($455,000)
NIFA invests in and advances agricultural research, education, and Extension across the nation to make transformative discoveries that solve societal challenges. NIFA supports initiatives that ensure the long-term viability of agriculture and applies an integrated approach to ensure that groundbreaking discoveries in agriculture-related sciences and technologies reach the people who can put them into practice. In FY2020, NIFA’s total investment was $1.95 billion. Visit
our website: www.nifa.usda.gov; Twitter: @USDA_NIFA; LinkedIn: USDA-NIFA. To learn more about NIFA’s impact on agricultural science (searchable by state or keyword), visit www.nifa.usda.gov/impacts.
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