[Pollinator] USDA Awards Grant to Michigan State University to Study Pollination Solutions for Specialty Crops

Wed Aug 6 10:23:30 PDT 2014

*USDA Awards Grant to Michigan State University to Study Pollination
Solutions for Specialty Crops*

Media Contact: Jennifer Martin (202) 720-8188

WASHINGTON, Aug. 6, 2014 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA)
National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) today announced a $6.9
million grant to Michigan State University (MSU) to develop sustainable
pollination strategies for specialty crops in the United States.  The grant
was funded through the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI), which is
authorized by the Agricultural Act of 2014 (Farm Bill). Supporting this
research will be a major contribution to achieving the goals of the
Presidential Memo on pollinators and pollinators’ health.

USDA is focused on halting the decline in bee populations.  Working with
our research partners to address this threat to our nation’s long term
agricultural productivity, USDA is actively engaged on strengthening
pollinators’ health in recognition of the important link between the health
of American agriculture and the health of honeybees.

“Pollination is critical to the production of the fruits, vegetables and
nuts that are part of a healthy diet,” said Sonny Ramaswamy, NIFA director.
“With the recent declines in pollinator numbers, especially honeybees, this
grant is extremely important for the profitability of the specialty crop
industry, which adds more than $50 billion to our nation’s economy every
year. The research and outreach efforts being supported by this grant will
provide growers with information on pollination, pollinators, and
management practices that will keep their crops productive year after year.”

The goal of the project, led by Rufus Isaacs at MSU, is to develop and
deliver context-specific Integrated Crop Pollination (ICP) recommendations
on how to most effectively harness native bees’ potential for crop
pollination. Context-specific ICP strategies will improve sustainability of
U.S. specialty crops and help ensure the continued ability of growers to
reap profitable returns from their investments in land, plants, and other
production inputs. ICP is defined as the combined use of different
pollinator species, habitat augmentation, and crop management practices to
provide reliable and economical pollination of crops.

The project team is working to accomplish the following objectives:

   - Identify economically-valuable pollinators and the factors affecting
   their abundance.
   - Develop habitat management practices to improve crop pollination.
   - Determine performance of alternative managed bees as specialty crop
   pollinators.
   - Demonstrate and deliver ICP practices to specialty crops growers.
   - Determine optimal methods for ICP information delivery and measure ICP
   adoption.
   - Analyze economics and modeling of pollination ecosystem services.

MSU will receive $3.4 million is fiscal year 2014, and subsequent payments
in fiscal years 2015 and 2016 are dependent on available funding and
demonstration of meeting the project’s goals. MSU first received a SCRI
grant <http://www.icpbees.org/> for $1.7 million to begin this work in
fiscal year 2012, the final year of the 2008 Farm Bill, bringing the total
investment to $8.6 million. This grant will continue and build upon that
research to ensure that specialty crop growers are better able to manage
pollinators for improved crop yields.

MSU’s team includes scientists from Loyola University, Franklin and
Marshall College, Utah State University, University of Vermont, The Xerces
Society, the University of California-Davis and the USDA Agricultural
Research Service.

The Farm Bill authorized SCRI
<http://www.nifa.usda.gov/funding/scri/scri.html> at $80 million in fiscal
year 2014 to address the critical needs of the specialty crop industry by
awarding grants to support research and extension that address key
challenges of national, regional and multi-state importance in sustaining
all components of food and agriculture, including conventional and organic
food production systems. Each year, NIFA will set aside $25 million of SCRI
funding for the Citrus Disease Research and Extension Program.

Today’s announcement was authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill. The Farm Bill
builds on historic economic gains in rural America over the past five
years, while achieving meaningful reform and billions of dollars in savings
for taxpayers. Since enactment, USDA has made significant progress to
implement each provision of this critical legislation, including providing
disaster relief to farmers and ranchers; strengthening risk management
tools; expanding access to rural credit; funding critical research;
establishing innovative public-private conservation partnerships;
developing new markets for rural-made products; and investing in
infrastructure, housing and community facilities to help improve quality of
life in rural America. For more information, visit www.usda.gov/farmbill.

Through federal funding and leadership for research, education and
extension programs, NIFA focuses on investing in science and solving
critical issues impacting people's daily lives and the nation's future. For
more information, visit www.nifa.usda.gov. <http://www.nifa.usda.gov/>

_______

*Scott Hoffman Black*

Executive Director

     The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation

Chair

     IUCN Butterfly Specialist Group

*The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation*

628 NE Broadway, Suite 200, Portland, OR 97232, USA

sblack at xerces.org
<https://webmail.integra.net/src/compose.php?send_to=sblack%40xerces.org>

Tel: (503) 232-6639 ext. 101

Toll free: 1-855-232-6639 ext. 101

Cell: (503) 449-3792

Connect with Xerces:
*xerces.org <http://www.xerces.org/>*          *Facebook
<http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Xerces-Society/193182577358618>*
*E-newsletter <http://www.xerces.org/enewsletters/>*          *Twitter
<https://twitter.com/xerces_society>*

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation is an international
nonprofit organization that protects wildlife through the conservation of
invertebrates and their habitat.

To join the Society, make a contribution, or read about our work, please
visit www.xerces.org.

Buy our best-selling book:

*Attracting Native Pollinators. Protecting North America’s Bees and
Butterflies
<http://www.xerces.org/announcing-the-publication-of-attracting-native-pollinators/>*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sonic.net/pipermail/pollinator/attachments/20140806/d42fa3c8/attachment.html>