California Claims One-Third of Nation's Specialty Crop Funding
California is getting a pretty impressive slice of the nation's latest specialty crop funding. About one-third of it, in fact.
The USDA has awarded approximately 86.6 million dollars nationwide through its Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, and 28.9 million of that is headed to California.
According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, that money will support 60 projects. And looking at the list, there's quite a variety.
For example, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is receiving nearly half a million dollars to explore harvesting table grapes with robotic arms and artificial intelligence. Think about what that technology could eventually mean for growers.
Another three million dollars will go toward a California Grown marketing campaign, working to get more of the state's specialty crops into consumers' shopping carts.
Other projects tackle everything from water conservation and pest management to food safety.
So while the funding is spread across dozens of projects, the common thread is finding new ways to keep California's specialty crop industry competitive.
