USDA ASKS THE AG INDUSTRY, “WHAT ARE YOUR CHALLENGES?”
USDA SPECIALTY CROP COMMITTEE HOLDS LISTENING SESSION –
PEST AND DISEASE CONTROL RANKS HIGH ON WISH LIST
In a special March listening session, USDA invited the specialty
crop representatives to suggest how the agency can better help the
industry. The USDA Specialty Crop Committee, under the auspices of
the National Agricultural Research,
Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory
Board, heard from several industry organizations on
needs ranging from citrus greening to methyl bromide.
The listening session goal was to “elicit stakeholder input from
industry and state representatives, national organizations and
institutions, local producers and other groups about topics of relevance
to research, extension or economics programs on which the Specialty Crop
Committee is charged to report through the NAREEE Advisory Board to the
Secretary of Agriculture and Congress,” according to the March 10
Federal Register.
Dan Botts, FFVA’s vice president of Industry
Resources, serves on the NAREE Advisory Board. “This
committee was legislatively mandated by the Specialty Crops
Competitiveness Act of 2004 and serves as a conduit into the Secretary
of Agriculture on research needs and priorities of the specialty crop
producers in the United States,” Botts said. The listening session
was held at FFVA's headquarters in Maitland.
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Sally Schneider, USDA Agricultural Research Service, told those
attending the recent listening session about steps USDA is taking to
address research priorities.
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Sally Schneider, USDA Agricultural Research Service, outlined steps
USDA is taking to address research priorities. She noted that research
receiving federal funds should be multidisciplinary, coordinated at the
national level, feature active stakeholder participation and promote
sustainable production.
Tom Bewick is a leader with the Specialty Crop Research Initiative
2009, an initiative created by the farm bill to provide funding to
specialty crop producers. Bewick emphasized that any research funded by
the initiative must be integrated, taking a “whole systems
approach from the field to the consumer.”
Most of the industry representatives, including FFVA President Mike
Stuart and Larry Arrington of UF/IFAS, urged that research address the
pressing issue of pest and disease management.
Mike Sparks of Florida Citrus Mutual expressed concern that there's
not a sense of urgency for federal funding for research to help the
citrus industry fight greening, pointing out that research dollars have
come from the growers themselves. “If citrus canker is a cold,
greening is the plague,” Sparks said. “There’s a lot
of important agricultural research out there, but maybe when the SCRI
and block grant programs are evaluating proposals, they should give
precedent to crops that are facing a crisis situation – an
emergency relief category,” Sparks said.
Charles Hall of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Association may have
summed up the situation most succinctly. Introducing his presentation,
he said, “Specialty crops are not for the
faint-hearted.”
Ted Campbell of the Florida Strawberry Growers Association said that
finding alternatives to the banned soil fumigant methyl bromide has
taken on new significance. He told the committee that Telone, considered
a leading alternative, is a by-product of the manufacture of automobile
paint and is now in short supply as a result of the downturn in the
carmaking sector.
Other areas emphasized included the need for research dollars and
extension efforts funneled into mechanical harvesting, compliance with
food safety regulations already in the legislative pipeline, and updated
statistical information regarding chemical usage.
TECHNICAL PROBLEMS, MATCHING FUNDS HAMPER
FUNDING
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Ted Campbell of the Florida Strawberry Growers
Association advised the group of the importance of finding
alternatives to methyl bromide.
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Technical issues with the grant writing and submission procedure
generated much discussion. Bewick pointed out that grants.gov, the Web
site for submitting research proposals, is "melting” because of
volume. “The system gets overloaded," he said. "There
aren’t enough portals, and there are software problems.” He
advised that groups submit proposals well before the deadline to ensure
they are received in time. Many worthwhile proposals have been
disqualified, he said, because they weren’t submitted early
enough to take into account delays caused by technical glitches.
Botts agreed that it's a problem. “The process for requesting
grants is the biggest issue we have,” he said. Hall suggested
creating an alternative for the grants.gov site.
Another stumbling block to receiving research funding is the
requirement that federal research dollars be matched by 100 percent from
other sources. “That’s controversial,” Stuart said.
“The original idea was to encourage stakeholder involvement, but
it’s kept some worthwhile proposals from being funded. Seeking a
waiver like other entities enjoy would be more favorable than trying to
remove the 100 percent requirement,” Stuart said.
WAIT AND SEE
USDA also accepted written comments for two weeks after the listening
session. All statements will become part of the official public record
of the Specialty Crop Committee and will be considered in the
development of comments by the NAREEE advisory board to the Secretary of
Agriculture in formulating his annual budget.