Northwest Specialty Crop Grants

Northwest Specialty Crop Grants. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. The Pacific Northwest has a very robust specialty crop history. Fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture, and nursery crops all fall under the heading of specialty crops. The USDA has awarded the northwest states with a sizable portion of block grants to help enhance the competitiveness of those crops. Washington received the third largest amount of about $3.7 million dollars with Oregon getting about $1.7 and Idaho a little over $1 million dollars. In Oregon, the federal money, made possible through the 2008 Farm Bill, will fund 24 projects selected by the Oregon Department of Agriculture and an industry advisory board. These are projects designed to help a major portion of the state's ag production, says ODA Assistant Director Dalton Hobbs. HOBBS: At least 80 percent of Oregon's agricultural output is specialty crops. Oregon is noted for its wide variety and diversity of crops. Specialty crops make up most of what we produce here in the state. Oregon ranks fifth in the nation in specialty crop production. While most of the projects help established commodities and producers, some are internally funded. ODA is managing a handful of projects on behalf of beginning farmers or disadvantaged groups, according to ODA's Katie Pearmine. PEARMINE: Many of the areas that didn't come through during the applications were things like opportunities for new entrants to farming, reaching direct in local markets, food safety issues, and major export barriers. Washington is the nation's third leading producer of fruit, vegetables and horticulture crops. Washington's Specialty Crop Grant Administrator Rianne Perry says that once these grants are awarded the recipients are held accountable. PERRY: With all of these projects we are required to be very accountable, keep them accountable so we require a lot of reporting, monitoring and we have to provide all of that back up to USDA so it's definitely not just a hand out anymore. All the states have a number of programs that this money will help including, Perry says, a farm to school program. PERRY: It' through the Washington Sustainable Food and Farming network and they are going to get 20 school districts to start farm to school programs. So really helping them to understand what the requirements are and work with them. Some school districts are maybe a little concerned or feel it's risky to get fresh produce from local farmers and they're used to buying it on these big contracts so it's really going to be beneficial to local farmers in those areas. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.