WASHINGTON – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Chief Scientist Chavonda Jacobs-Young announced on Tuesday a nearly $24 million investment across 45 organizations and institutions that teach and train beginning farmers and ranchers. “Investing in the professional development of our nation’s newest farmers and ranchers will help our food and agriculture sectors to flourish from the ground up,” said Jacobs-Young, who …
NIFA Grant a Vote of Confidence for UF/IFAS Vanilla Research
By Clint Thompson A grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) will help grow the vanilla industry in South Florida. Alan Chambers, plant geneticist at UF/IFAS Tropical Research and Education Center, said the $300,000 grant is a vote of confidence from NIFA that it values his research and the potential future success …
Minimum Changes: USDA Updates Citrus Crop Forecast
Reductions in the projected Florida grapefruit and tangerine/tangelo crops were the only changes in the May 12 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) citrus crop forecast. USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) reduced Florida’s grapefruit crop projection by 2%, to 4.2 million boxes, down from 4.3 million boxes in April. The total 100,000-box reduction was in red grapefruit, which dipped to …
Key Investment: USDA Invest in Specialty Crops Grants, Incentives to Purchase Fruits and Vegetables
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) continues to help agricultural producers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on Tuesday the availability of more than $330 million to help farmers and organizations in the food supply chain recover from the financial impacts of the pandemic. The funding is part of USDA’s Pandemic Assistance …
New NIFA-Funded Research to Examine Cover Crops in Organic Vegetable Production Systems
By: Kirsten Romaguera, 352-294-3313, kromaguera@ufl.edu The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture just announced funding for a project comprising an interdisciplinary team from the University of Florida. The three-year project, “Quantifying the nitrogen cycling benefits of different cover crops across different Florida organic vegetable production systems,” received a $496,271 grant as part of USDA-NIFA’s Organic Agriculture …
USDA Funds $77.8 Million for Sustainable Agriculture Research, Includes NC State
By Karla Arboleda The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture invested $77.8 million toward efforts to support sustainable agriculture research. North Carolina State University (NC State) is one of eight universities funded for research. Chris Reberg-Horton, professor of cropping systems at NC State, and Steven Mirsky, agro-ecologist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service, are codirecting …
USDA Invests $11M In Research That Will Support Specialty Crop Farmers
WASHINGTON (USDA-Oct. 3, 2019) — U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Deputy Under Secretary Scott Hutchins announced 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 …
Vanilla Could Be the Next Big Crop for Small Farmers in Southern Florida
Florida is on the verge of a new agricultural crop that could give small farmers in the southern region of the state a high-value alternative to vegetable and fruit production. University of Florida researchers at the Tropical Research and Education Center have embarked on a comprehensive evaluation of vanilla – from developing fertilizer recommendations to developing the highest-yielding and disease-resistant …
Secret Weapon? Newest Citrus Disease Tool Could be Found in Citrus Micobiome
LAKE ALFRED, FLA — The tiny microbes that reside in citrus trees could be the key to growers’ success against citrus diseases, like citrus canker. University of Florida researchers hope to discover how microbes may benefit citrus trees, and the end result may be an environmentally friendly and sustainable way to control plant pathogens. Nian Wang, professor of microbiology …
Improving Mechanical Harvesting of Fresh-Market Blueberries
By Fumiomi Takeda The growth of the blueberry industry in the past three decades has been remarkably robust. For the blueberry industry to remain competitive and sustainable, growers are seeking solutions to ever-increasing problems with labor shortages and rising labor costs for harvesting blueberries by hand. More growers are now using over-the-row (OTR) mechanical harvesters to pick blueberries for the …