WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2019 – U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy
Under Secretary Scott Hutchins announced today that the National Institute
of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) has invested $11 million in research that
will support specialty crop farmers.
“This collaborative public-private research effort will
focus on applying innovative solutions to pest management problems that
often are otherwise not available to specialty crop farmers,” said Hutchins,
who leads USDA’s Research, Education and Economics (REE) mission area.
“Practical and economic crop management solutions may make all the
difference between thriving and just surviving financially during the
growing season.”
This investment is made through the Minor Crop Pest
Management Program (known as the Interregional Research Project, IR-4). The
IR-4 program enables crop protection technology often designed for field
crops, but equally safe, effective and economical for growers of minor/specialty
crops—including fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits,
horticulture, and nursery crops (including floriculture) – to be evaluated
and registered for use.
As part of this funding investment, four universities across
different U.S. growing regions will lead regional IR-4 programs that will
generate additional data for registration of conventional and bio-based
crop protection technology for specialty and minor crops in the United
States. These efforts require effective collaborations among grower
organizations, federal agencies, the private sector, and land-grant
colleges and universities.
NIFA’s Pest
Management Programs invest in research that supports
integrated pest management strategies, including coordinating the use of
pest biology, environmental information, and available technology to
prevent unacceptable levels of pest damage by the most economical means,
while minimizing risk to people, property, resources, and the environment.
A 2017 Michigan
State University Center for Economic Analysis study (PDF, 640
KB) concluded that “IR-4’s partnership with agriculture has contributed to
95,261 jobs with a total labor income of $5.6 billion, and annual
contributions to the gross domestic product totaling about $9.4 billion.”
A list of the four universities (five awards total) and
their research projects is available on the NIFA website.
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