By KEVIN WALKER Michigan Correspondent LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) is seeking public feedback on its specialty crop block grant (SCBG) program. The department made the announcement Oct. 30 and will accept emailed comments until 5 p.m. on Dec. 8. The Michigan SCBG program awards funds to projects to enhance the competitiveness of the state’s specialty crops; these include fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture and nursery crops (including floriculture). Recipients are often demonstration projects designed to mitigate or resolve a problem for specialty crop producers, such as an animal or weed pest. The next cycle for this program is set to get underway on Feb. 5, 2018. Recent grant recipients include the Michigan Vegetable Council, awarded $98,609 for a project called Optimizing Fall Cover Crop Fertility Management for Vegetable Cropping Systems. Another was the Michigan Tree Fruit Commission, which won $100,000 for a project called Using Advanced Apple Sorting Technology to Advance the Competitiveness of the Michigan Apple Industry. MDARD had 17 grant recipients listed for 2017. “This is not the first time MDARD has sought public comment,” said Jennifer Holton, department spokeswoman. “There was a public comment period last year as well. USDA requires public comment periods to ensure the department is hearing from the public regarding Michigan’s specialty crop industry’s priorities and challenges. “It’s a measure to ensure MDARD is funding projects with the strong focus on the industry’s needs.” The public comment period will lead up to the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable & Farm Market Expo, to be held Dec. 5-7, along with the Michigan Greenhouse Growers Expo. “Although the public comment period doesn’t directly correlate to the fruit and vegetable expo, it does provide an opportune forum to get feedback from those producers,” Holton added. The three-day event will take place at the Devos Place Conference Center and The Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids. MDARD will have a booth in the Main Exhibit Hall at the expo; attendees are welcome to stop by the MDARD specialty crop booth to provide comment. MDARD will have a few other booths at the expo as well. To get more information about Michigan’s Specialty Crop Block Grant program, visit www.michigan.gov/mdardgrants and to provide feedback on the grant program, send an email message to mda-grants@michigan.gov by the Dec. 8 deadline. The input received will be considered when developing final program priorities for 2018, MDARD said in its announcement. To get more information about the upcoming expo, go to http://glexpo.com |
