Specialty Crop Grants News Coverage From the WV State Fair

Fairlea, WV – West Virginia Commissioner of Agriculture Gus R. Douglass will presented 9 local-food projects from across the state with nearly $100,000 in specialty crop grants at a ceremony at the State Fair of West Virginia Tuesday, August 16, 2011.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and administered by the West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA), the program seeks to promote increased consumption of specialty crops and increase the competitiveness of specialty crop producers.
The grant program encourages cooperative efforts to integrate technology at the farm level, improve marketing and promotion of locally grown specialty crops, and increase production efficiency through research projects. Specialty crops include fruits, vegetables, herbs, horticulture goods, Christmas trees, nursery stock and value-added products. The types of eligible projects are intentionally open-ended to encourage creative projects.

Over the past six years, WVDA has distributed approximately $1 million in funding to 134 projects throughout the state through a competitive grant award program. Applications for next year's program will be available from WVDA later this year.