Supporting Specialty Crops & Rules For Drone Use

I'm Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

Thanks to the new Farm Bill $4 million in Specialty Crop Block Grant Program funding is being made available to help support the specialty crop industry in Washington state. The WSDA is accepting project proposals from private and non-profit organizations, commodity commissions and other public entities until 4 pm February 26. WSDA's Mike Louisell has more.

LOUISELL: Examples of that in the past years operations includes hops, apples, wine, pears, christmas trees and methods to do better improved in irrigation and water management. We issued 27 projects last year of specialty crop fund program of about $4-million dollars also.

Project fund requests can be anywhere between $25 and $250 thousand. For more information visit the WSDA website at agr.wa.gov.

In response to the recent release of the FAA's proposed rules for the commercial use of drones Senator Maria Cantwell stated that "This technology holds tremendous promise for many commercial applications in the areas of science, safety, and security, including everything from aerial surveying to precision agriculture." Cantwell went on to say that she is looking forward to working with the FAA and her colleagues to develop a framework that balances economic potential with protecting privacy and safety.

That's Washington Ag Today.

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I'm Lacy Gray with the Ag Information Network of the West.