Tallahassee, FL – Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam H. Putnam announced today 28 projects will receive a total of $4.1 million in U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) specialty crop block grants this year.
The grants support projects ranging from research on citrus greening – an existential threat to Florida’s $9 billion citrus industry – and detection of the laurel wilt pathogen to growing school nutrition gardens and developing pomegranate and blackberry crops in the state.
“These grants will fund innovative projects that increase the sale of Florida products, help us fight invasive pests and bring nutritious food to communities that need it most,” said Commissioner Putnam. “We are proud to partner with the USDA, state universities and community organizations to support the state’s $100 billion agriculture industry.”
The grants fund projects that will enhance the competitiveness of Florida’s specialty crops, which include fruits and vegetables, dried fruit, tree nuts, horticulture and nursery crops. Major considerations included the overall economic benefit to the Florida specialty crop industry and whether the project makes good business sense and has a high likelihood of success.
Other priorities for funding included:
• Yielding immediate benefit to the public or industry.
• Addressing barriers to increase access, availability and consumption of Florida grown specialty crops at the local institutional level through improving efficiency and reducing costs of distribution systems.
• Buying local programs for institutions, including schools, prisons, hospitals, restaurants and other businesses.
• Increasing access and availability of specialty crops for underserved populations.
• Addressing the issue of food deserts.
• Increasing child and adult nutrition knowledge, consumption and access to Florida specialty crops, such as programs designed to facilitate purchase of specialty crops using federal food program benefits.
• Increasing the sales and marketability of Florida commercially grown specialty crops.
For a full list of projects receiving grants, go to http://bit.ly/161BMG6