Specialty Crop Grants & Bundy Charged

Specialty Crop Grants & Bundy Charged. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

The stand-off in Oregon last month has opened the door to some additional charges dating back to 2014. A federal grand jury in Nevada has charged 14 additional defendants in connection with the armed assault against federal law enforcement officers that occurred in the Bunkerville, Nevada back in April of 2014. That was when the original armed stand-off with Cliven Bundy ended in a stalemate and officials backing down. The newly-added defendants are each charged with multiple counts of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and extortion.

The 2016 Specialty Crop Block Grant program application process is now open. Eric Boyington is the Grants Coordinator for the Idaho State Department of Ag and says that USDA has made a number of modifications to the 2016 program.

BOYINGTON: Our due date is April 29th. It's very similar to years past. We have just under $4-million in total funding we can provide to potential applicants. We did re-do our application quite a bit and that came from USDA making a few changes but we think it's going to make the application process even easier. There's going to be a couple of webinars that I'll be hosting and those will give additional instructions on how to fill out the applications.

Specialty crops are defined to include fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, and horticulture and nursery crops, including floriculture.

That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.