For Immediate Release: Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2018
USDA funds will
help groups promoting fruits, vegetables, nuts, and flowers
DES MOINES - Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig today announced
that the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship will be awarding
grants to 11 Iowa organizations to help enhance the competitiveness of
specialty crops grown in Iowa. The Department received $334,269.77 through
the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program from the USDA Agricultural Marketing
Service to support the program.
“Specialty crops are a very important part of Iowa
agriculture as they allow farmers to diversify and give customers access to
locally grown products,” Naig said. “These federal funds will support food
safety, research and marketing efforts that will encourage Iowans to choose
fruits, vegetables, nuts and flowers that are produced right here in our
state.”
Iowa agricultural non-profit organizations, cooperatives,
specialty crop industry associations or organizations, state departments, and
producer groups were eligible to apply for funding.
The Department also invited public comment from specialty
crop stakeholders to help identify priorities for the program and established a
Review Committee to help review, evaluate, and make recommendations on which
grant proposals submitted to the Department should receive funding.
The maximum grant award from the Department to
sub-grantees is $24,000 and administrative and indirect costs are not allowed.
Grant funds shall be used for projects that benefit and
enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops industry as a whole, and cannot
be for projects that directly benefit a particular product or provide a profit
to a single organization, institution, or individual.
“Specialty Crops” that are eligible under this program
are fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits and horticulture and nursery
crops, including floriculture. The funds not passed through to Iowa
organizations will be used by the Department to administer the grant.
The full list of the 11 funded projects follows here:
Iowa State
University of Science and Technology - $23,969.00
Iowa State University will conduct research on evaluating
several biodegradable mulch materials available in the market. Questions to be
researched include: 1) Do biodegradable mulches perform equal or better than
conventional mulches in Iowa growing conditions?, 2) how long do the mulches
last and how effective are they during the growing season?, and 3) what is the
economic feasibility of these mulches?
Iowa State
University of Science and Technology - $23,208.00
Iowa State University will collaborate with an Iowa
orchard to provide a climate system capable of predicting fire blight. Using
commercially available disease forecasting software, project leaders will
compare weather data with disease presence via plant diagnostic testing. The
goal of the project is to monitor climate over two growing seasons to determine
strategies to suppress disease and reduce pesticide use.
Iowa State
University Extension and Outreach - $23,618.00
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Local Foods
Program Team will provide training for farmers interested in expanding their
production and marketing systems to include wholesale and intermediate markets.
Profitability is critical to the success of local food systems and many small
to mid-size farmers are looking to diversify their operations to sustain a
profitable farm business model.
Practical Farmers
of Iowa - $24,000.00
Beginning and advanced specialty crop farmers in
Practical Farmers’ membership are always looking to improve their product
quality and profitability. Working crop-by-crop and looking at other farmers’
production, harvest and packing systems has been identified as a valuable
learning process that quickly provides actionable ideas. The central objective
of this grant is to improve the competitiveness of specialty crops in Iowa
through in-depth, crop-specific knowledge sharing among farmers at conferences,
field days, and through on-farm research.
Lutheran Services
in Iowa - $24,000.00
Through the project “Building on Lessons Learned:
Increasing Refugee Producers’ Capacity to Teach and Train Each Other,” LSI will
provide classroom, in-field and experiential trainings for farmers to improve
their skills and knowledge in the areas of specialty crop production methods.
Iowa State
University of Science and Technology - $23,149.60
Project leaders will compare two production systems: high
tunnel-grown peaches and field-grown peaches. Peach trees in both systems were
established in May 2016 using identical planting methods with the same tree
spacing and row orientation. Through this project, we will determine whether
growing peaches in a high tunnel is both practical and economical for Iowa
farmers wishing to diversify their crops.
Iowa State
University of Science and Technology - $23,919.00
Iowa State University will increase the productivity and
yield of food crops grown in greenhouses and reduce the amount of energy
required to heat greenhouses. The project will develop new guidelines for
managing air temperature through scientifically based quantification of plant
responses to reduced night temperatures and increased day temperatures. The
project will also conduct computer modeling of the energy requirements of these
temperature guidelines. Results will be distributed through grower meetings as
well as industry and Extension publications.
Iowa Valley
Resource Conservation and Development - $12,000.00
The Iowa Valley Resource Conservation and Development
(IVRCD) project will cultivate the woody ornamental industry in Iowa. Through
partnerships with farmers, the project will develop replicable production
systems, outreach to florists to assess market demand, and on-farm and online-based
production demonstrations to increase the adoption of this enterprise across
the state.
Iowa State University
of Science and Technology - $22,959.00
Iowa State University will reduce the amount of
phosphorous applied to potted flowering plants and containerized annuals and
perennials grown in greenhouses. The project will develop new guidelines for
applying fertilizers with reduced phosphorous concentrations through
scientifically based quantification of minimum phosphorous requirements.
Results will be distributed through grower meetings as well as industry and
Extension publications.
The Iowa Agriculture
Literacy Foundation - $13,175.00
The Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation will increase
the educational material available to teach about fruit tree production
(apples) in Iowa by developing the next book in a series – My Family’s Apple
Farm. The book will be accompanied by educational standards-aligned lesson
plans and instructional materials to provide teachers involved in educating
students the resources they need to link apple production to science, social
studies, and language arts curriculum.
Iowa Department of
Agriculture and Land Stewardship - $96,002.00
The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship will conduct a
social media marketing campaign for Iowa specialty crops focused on increasing
awareness of specialty crops grown in Iowa and encouraging consumption. The
campaign will target social media users by showcasing specialty crops in Iowa
and educating regions of when and where to find these specialty crops.
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For more information, contact Dustin Vande Hoef, (515) 281-3375 or (515) 326-1616 (cell) or Dustin.VandeHoef@IowaAgriculture.gov
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