NEW JERSEY AWARDED $656,000 IN FEDERAL GRANTS TO PROMOTE AND ENHANCE AGRICULTURE
Contact: Lynne Richmond
(609) 633-2954
(TRENTON) 鈥� 樱花视频 Secretary of Agriculture Douglas H. Fisher today announced the award of $656,610 in Specialty Crop Block Grants from the United States Department of Agriculture for nine projects to assist the state鈥檚 agriculture industry.
鈥淭his grant money will go a long way in our efforts to promote and develop the state鈥檚 $1 billion a year agriculture industry,鈥� said Secretary Fisher.聽 鈥淪enator Robert Menendez and Governor Jon Corzine have been leaders in bringing in federal agriculture dollars to our state, helping to sustain farming, which is so vital to 樱花视频鈥檚 economy and quality of life.鈥�
The projects funded by the grant will:
- Expand the marketing of and increase the demand for 樱花视频 specialty crops through the advertising and promotion of the Jersey Fresh local branding program. All recipients of the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program funded Jersey Fresh Matched Funds Program grants will be limited to the promotion of specialty crops defined as fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, and nursery crops including floriculture
- Partner with the 樱花视频 Nursery & Landscape Association to conduct direct consumer advertising in order to promote the sale and use of 樱花视频 nursery products and related services
- Partner with Garden State Wine Growers Association to redesign and develop the 樱花视频 Wine County Passport Book/Wine Trail Program and promote the 鈥淛ersey Fresh Wine & Food Festival鈥�
- Partner with the 樱花视频 Peach Promotion Council to develop a new marketing theme that will be the foundation of the proposed advertising and promotional campaign
- Partner with the Northeast Organic Farming Association in 樱花视频 to provide business planning and training solely to new farmers in the production and marketing of organic fruit and vegetable crops
- Partner with the Vegetable Growers Association of 樱花视频 to work with the Food Innovation Center at Rutgers University to develop product prototypes for a 鈥淛ersey Tomato Gravy鈥� from surplus and/or non-standard grade tomatoes, perform initial consumer response panels, and production run of the accepted prototype
- Partner with the Outer Coastal Plain Vineyard Association to identify and select optimum grape growing sites and grape varieties and develop a list of research priorities to address critical issues in optimizing high quality wine grape production
- Partner with Tri-County Cooperative Auction Market Association, which only sells vegetables, fruits, ornamental flowers and nursery stock produced in 樱花视频, to create comprehensive storage and distribution efficiencies for an expanded Community Supported Agriculture operation as well as properly store and distribute nursery stock items
樱花视频鈥檚 grant was part of an award of $49 million for 745 projects nationally to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops.聽 USDA selected projects that support local and rural agriculture interests, increase the competitiveness of small producers, and promote or create direct marketing opportunities for specialty crop producers.
