FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 5, 2002
Contact:
Jim Rubingh
(303) 239-4114

State Department of Agriculture
donates $1.5 million for CSU center

LAKEWOOD, Colo. - Colorado farmers produce more than $600 million in
specialty crops each year. A grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture
will soon help farmers develop improved crops and better strategies to reach
more consumers.

The Colorado Department of Agriculture (CDA) donated $1.5 million through a
five-year grant to develop a Specialty Crops Center at Colorado State
University in Fort Collins, Colo. The USDA provided every state grant funds
based on the state's farm gate sales of specialty crops.

"We considered various ways to use the funds, but ultimately we felt the
creation of a specialty crops center will provide a long-term benefit for
producers," said Don Ament, commissioner of agriculture. "We want to find
new ways to help our farmers and ranchers add value to their bottom line."

The Specialty Crops Center is seeking proposals for grower research and
education grants. The funds must be used for new specialty crops, which
excludes wheat, feed grains, oilseeds, cotton, rice, peanuts and tobacco.

"These grants are ideal for producers or groups to complete research,
demonstrations and other projects on specialty crop production, processing
or marketing," said Jim Rubingh, CDA director of the markets division. "We
want this to stimulate more ideas and innovations with our specialty crops."

Examples of specialty crops grown in Colorado are chilies, lavender, Adzuki
beans, Echinacea and artichokes. For information on the grant requirements,
visit our Web site at http://www.ag.state.co.us/mkt/specialtycrops.pdf.

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Linh Truong
Public Information Officer
Colorado Department of Agriculture
phone (303) 239-4100
fax (303) 239-4176
linh.truong@ag.state.co.us