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News Releases
Contact:
DeeDee Sigler, Communications Director
Phone: (317) 233-2207
Email:
dsigler@commerce.state.in.us
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For Immediate
Release: Jul 10, 2002
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| Lt. Governor Kernan Announces USDA Grant
Recipients |
Franklin, Ind. - Lt. Governor Joe
Kernan, Indiana's commissioner of Agriculture,
today announced that 36 specialty crop and
agricultural promotion projects will receive a
total of $1.16 million in grants under a U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) Block Grant
Program.
The grants are the result of a
2001 decision by Congress to authorize
supplemental funding in response to the continuing
economic crisis adversely affecting American
agricultural producers. Special assistance was
targeted to specialty crops in proportion to each
state?s percentage of total U.S. production of
fruits, vegetables and nuts. In Indiana, $660,000
was made available for specialty crops and
$500,000 for the promotion of agriculture.
USDA allowed states to choose how they
would handle the supplemental funds. Indiana?s
Office of the Commissioner of Agriculture (OCA)
decided a grant program that directly benefited
the state?s agricultural industry was the best way
to go.
"Indiana agriculture is about much
more than just its traditional commodities - hogs,
corn, cattle and soybeans," Kernan said. 'Our
farmers also produce a diverse array of fruits,
vegetables and alternative crops. We're pleased to
partner with the federal government to provide
assistance to these areas of our economy," Kernan
added.
A group coordinated by OCA selected
the winning projects through a competitive
process. The grant awards will go to farmers,
commodity groups, cooperatives, not-for-profits
and other initiatives.
"We looked at the
proposed project's partnership approach -- how the
organization plans to incorporate involvement and
leadership at the local level in order to ensure
the project?s success,? Kernan added. "Our
recipients certainly exemplify this team
concept."
Today's announcement was made at
Stan Poe's lamb farm located west of Franklin in
Johnson County. Poe and the Indiana Sheep
Association are recipients of $52,375 from the
USDA.
"This will allow Hoosier lamb
producers to better promote quality Indiana lamb,"
said Poe. "We'll be able to further enhance our
packaging capabilities and expand our market
area."
ISA president Gerald Kelly agreed.
"Lamb producers will win, because we'll be able to
supply consumers and restaurants with a variety of
quality meats packaged in the cuts they
prefer."
For more information on grant
recipients, contact OCA's Kathy Altman at (317)
232-8765, or via e-mail at kaltman@commerce.state.in.us
.
Nineteen organizations receiving specialty crop
grants are:
(listed alphabetically by
recipient name)
Develop alternative uses
for small tobacco acreage in southeastern Indiana
$3,247.00
Denise L. Dailey, Deputy,
Ind.
This project will serve as a model for
other Indiana growers seeking to diversify and
expand production from tobacco to specialty crops
such as lettuce, ethnic vegetables, specialty
greens and microgreens.
Establish a
specialty growers production and marketing
initiative $35,100.00
Historic Hoosier
Hills RC&D/Jennings County Growers Cooperative
Inc., North Vernon, Ind.
This initiative will
create a comprehensive education and market
development program in Jennings County by
providing local growers with coordinated
state-of-the-art production, marketing and
business training.
Develop educational
seminars entitled "Organics on the Road: Bringing
the New Organic Regulations HOME to Hoosiers"
$18,200.00
Hoosier Organic Marketing
Education, Clayton, Ind.
?On the road?
educational seminars will be developed to educate
Indiana?s certified (and potential) organic
farmers on regulatory compliance with the new
national and Indiana organic
regulations.
Introduce honey bee queens
for colony propagation $2,000.00
Indiana
Beekeepers Association, North Liberty,
Ind.
Indiana's fruit and vegetable industry
depends on thriving bee colonies to pollinate
crops. This project will introduce purchased queen
bees to established colonies to provide
replacements in order to increase the productivity
of Indiana bee colonies.
Sponsor the
"The Good Life" $27,000.00
Indiana
Christmas Tree Growers' Association, Springport,
Ind.
This project will promote Indiana-grown
Christmas trees using public television
programming and video news releases. It will also
fund a media relations seminar for all commodity
associations.
Develop a food venture -
Phase I $50,000.00
Madison Area Chamber of
Commerce Foundation, Inc., Madison, Ind.
Food
Ventures will develop a marketing
analysis/implementation plan for a commercial
kitchen. The kitchen will be a fully licensed
shared-use specialty food production facility that
will assist entrepreneurs with processing and
packaging of produce.
Promote Indiana
agriculture through "The Good Life" with Jill
Ditmire $50,000.00
Metropolitan
Indianapolis Public Broadcasting, Inc. (WFYI),
Indianapolis, Ind.
Expanding awareness of
Indiana"s agricultural industry, this project will
underwrite a public television series featuring
Indiana agricultural products and producers. The
program will be aired on all nine public
television stations in Indiana.
Develop
an Indiana agriculture/horticulture labor law
compliance manual $11,100.00
Mid America Ag
and Hort Services, Inc., Columbus, Ind.
This
project will provide Indiana specialty crop
producers with a comprehensive Indiana
agriculture/horticulture labor law compliance
manual and Web site.
Research honey bee
breeding for mite resistance
$43,304.00
Purdue University, West
Lafayette, Ind.
Research will be done to breed
bees resistant to parasitic mites that have
decimated bee populations in the state. Honeybees
are critical for pollination of Indiana
blueberries, cantaloupes, watermelon and
cucumbers, and other crops.
Establish
an Indiana fruit and vegetable Web site
$28,879.00
Purdue University, West
Lafayette, Ind.
Education is the goal of this
project that will establish and maintain a Web
site for fruit and vegetable growers. The purpose
is to strengthen the Indiana fruit and vegetable
industry by making it easier to access relevant
technical information and communicate with others
in the industry.
Research site specific
weed management for Indiana mint production
$39,927.00
Purdue University, West
Lafayette, Ind.
Research will be done to
develop weed management programs for mint. The
results will present an opportunity to provide
outreach and education programs to ensure the
stability of Indiana mint
production.
Educate Indiana Specialty
Crop Growers $15,751.00
Purdue University,
West Lafayette, Ind.
This project will increase
the quality and availability of information
concerning specialty crop production, marketing
and regulatory compliance through expansion and
enhancement of the Indiana Horticultural Congress'
(IHC) speakers.
Hire a specialty crop
marketing specialist $152,569.00
Purdue
University, West Lafayette, Ind.
Funds will be
used to hire a specialty crop-marketing specialist
to develop educational programs and information
resources on market analysis, product marketing
strategies, development of niche markets and
direct marketing concepts for specialty crops in
Indiana.
Further enhance the development
of Indiana wines and grapes
$47,413.00
Purdue University, West
Lafayette, Ind.
Enhance and develop the wine
and grape industry through sponsorship of the
"Vintage Indiana Wine and Food
Festival."
Research processing tomato
variety improvements $50,000.00
Red Gold,
Inc., Elwood, Ind.
Research development on new
tomato varieties will be done under this project.
It also includes testing, gene pool maintenance
and release of new varieties to commercial and
individual Indiana growers.
Switch from
bulk to specialty crop production - Huffman &
Hawbaker Cabbage Farms $8,995.00
TriBond
Farms, Inc. - Levi J. Huffman, Lafayette,
Ind.
The goal is to establish a model that can
be used by other producers as some farmers switch
from bulk commodity production to specialty
crops.
Create a specialty crop direct
marketing interactive Web portal
$50,000.00
Truitt Communications LLC,
Indianapolis, Ind.
The purpose of this project
is to develop, build and operate an interactive
web portal that matches Indiana specialty crop
producers who want to direct market their products
to consumers - with those consumers interested in
buying directly from the farm.
Develop
a White County farmers market
$23,403.00
White County Industrial
Foundation, Inc., Monticello, Ind.
This project
will develop a county-wide farmers? market system
to work in coordination with local
tourism.
Promote Indiana-grown flowers -
Zandstra's Garden Center $3,112.00
Arnold
D. Zandstra, Nicholas P. Zandstra, Highland,
Ind.
The project will be used as an educational
center to promote Indiana-grown flowers. The goal
is to transition from a vegetable grower to a
wholesale/retail greenhouse operation.
Agriculture promotion grants will be awarded to
17 recipients. They are:
(listed
alphabetically by recipient
name)
Support Abundant Harvest of
Indiana $25,000.00
Abundant Harvest of
Indiana, Inc., Fountaintown, Ind.
Bringing
fresh fruits and vegetables to Indiana food banks
is the goal of this project. This will be done by
offering to pay expenses for harvest, grading,
packing and delivery of produce to food banks.
Protect Indiana's agricultural heritage
$27,655.00
American Farmland Trust, East
Lansing, Mich.
This proposal will develop a
video and land use tour to show the economic,
environmental and social benefits of Indiana
agriculture and why all citizens should be
interested in farmland preservation and land use
management.
Establish a community
farmers? market $45,332.00
Center for
Agricultural Science & Heritage, Inc.,
Indianapolis, Ind.
A comprehensive statewide
resource network will be developed to explore
establishing a community farmers' market. A staff
person hired by the center will develop forums,
networks, databases and materials for an
infrastructure on community farmers'
markets.
Develop and promote a tri-state
horticultural growers' conference
$10,000.00
Historic Hoosier Hills RC&D,
Versailles, Ind.
A tri-state horticultural
growers conference will be developed to promote
the use of horticultural specialty crops, and to
bring together growers from southeastern Indiana,
southwestern Ohio and north central Kentucky to
discuss ways to improve production and develop
multi-state regional marketing
initiatives.
Promote organic seed and
farming practices $52,350.00
Hoosier
Organic Marketing Education, Atlanta, Ind.
This
project will educate organic (and non-organic)
producers about opportunities, production methods
and certification requirements for organic seed
corn varieties developed specifically for
Indiana.
Enhance the Indiana
Agricultural Leadership Program
$40,000.00
Indiana Agricultural Leadership
Institute, Inc., Danville, Ind.
This project
will provide underwriting support for the Indiana
Agricultural Leadership Institute and the Indiana
Agricultural Leadership Program (ALP). The
institute provides participants with training that
improves leadership capacities, builds confidence,
and increases knowledge and perspectives of
domestic and international affairs affecting
agriculture.
Educate citizens about
Indiana agriculture $42,250.00
Indiana
Agriculture Resource Council, Indianapolis,
Ind.
Through education materials, public
awareness initiatives and public relations
campaigns, this project will increase the
awareness and understanding of Indiana
agricultural commodities.
Develop
foodservice & retail markets for Indiana farm
fresh beef $31,200.00
Indiana Beef Cattle
Association, Inc., Indianapolis, Ind.
This
project will explore the potential use of two
existing, idle meat processing facilities, as well
as construction of a new facility to provide a
365-day supply of Indiana farm fresh beef to
retailers and restaurateurs.
Increase
ethanol production and utilization program
$10,000.00
Indiana Corn Growers
Association, Wabash, Ind.
Funding will be used
to increase ethanol production in Indiana and
encourage the use of fuel ethanol as an
alternative to the MTBE phase out as a gasoline
additive.
Develop an environmental
management system model $15,000.00
Indiana
Farm Bureau Environmental Services, Inc.,
Indianapolis, Ind.
This project seeks to
develop an environmental management system (EMS)
model for livestock producers in Indiana. EMS is a
comprehensive, systematic process to effectively
manage environmental risks and liabilities.
Improve the CNMP Process
$30,348.00
Indiana Farm Bureau
Environmental Services, Inc., Indianapolis,
Ind.
This project will establish an improved
data-collection process for developing
Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plans (CNMPs)
for Indiana livestock operations.
Develop an Indiana agriculture
awareness campaign for consumers
$49,000.00
Indiana Pork Producers
Association, Indianapolis, Ind.
The campaign
will educate Indiana's non-farm public about the
value and role of agriculture in their lives and
local communities through print ads and radio
spots placed around the state.
Establish
an Indiana farm fresh lamb project
$52,375.00
Indiana Sheep Association,
Franklin, Ind.
A centralized lamb processing
system will be developed to increase consumption
of Indiana lamb products. This will allow
producers to have lambs processed at a central
location and then sell the fresh product to local
restaurants and groceries.
Develop a
marketing action plan for the Clark County Farmers
Market $3,000.00
Jeffersonville Main Street
Inc., Jeffersonville, Ind.
The Marketing Action
Plan for the Clark County Farmers Market is a
multi-part process to ensure the sustainability of
the Clark County Farmers Market and family farmers
who supply products to the market. Implementation
of the actions in this plan will increase
awareness of the farmers market to the consumers
who have access to it.
Develop
an educational presentation for FFA
$18,990.00
Montgomery Farms, Underwood,
Ind.
This project will assist an existing
agricultural enterprise in creating an educational
presentation for delegates to the national FFA
conference.
Create an Indiana
Agriculture - It All Starts With the Land Video
series $32,823.00
Office of the
Commissioner of Agriculture, Indianapolis,
Ind.
This project will create a highly
informative, visual series of videos that showcase
Indiana agriculture. The videos will demonstrate
the tremendous value various segments within the
agriculture industry bring to the Hoosier state.
Form the Eel River
soybean coop $14,677.00
RDC Farms,
Inc., Lewis, Ind.
Grant monies will be used to
form a cooperative to process and market soy
diesel in combination with other soy products and
by-products.
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