Officials for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) have revealed that some US$19m is being set aside to fund a number of organic research projects across the country.
According to the USDA, the money will fund 23 different research projects and programme development in 23 states, covering organic produce, meat and dairy.
The Packer reported that money for the grants is coming from two programmes within the USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Some of the biggest recipients under the Organic Agriculture Research Extension Initiative Awards include the University of California (US$2.6m) for a series of seminars, workshops, newsletters and online resources to share research to help organic growers comprehensively improve environmental sustainability and economic viability, and the USDA Agricultural Research Service (US$2.1m) to develop carrots adapted to organic growing conditions with market qualities demanded by organic consumers.
Under the Organic Transitions Programs Awards, the University of Maryland gets US$$411,916 to demonstrate the viability of reduced- and no-till organic vegetable production systems, while Michigan State University is given US$749,106 for a project determining the potential of cover crops as a farm management option for improving nitrogen timing with cash crops, evaluating the impact of cover crops on nitrous oxide emissions, and improving farmer knowledge of cover crop benefits to nitrogen use and farm economics.
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