media release

Colorado Department of Agriculture

www.colorado.gov/ag

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 20, 2011

Contact: Stacy Romero, (303) 239-4116, stacy.romero@ag.state.co.us

Grants Awarded for Colorado Specialty Crops

LAKEWOOD, Colo. – Fourteen grants totaling over $712,000 have been awarded through the Colorado Department of Agriculture’s Specialty Crops Block Grant Program.

Specialty crops include fruits, vegetables, seeds, greenhouse and nursery products and sod. Funds are received by CDA from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service initiatives aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of Colorado’s fruit, vegetable and green industries.

“This funding has provided a tremendous opportunity for Colorado’s agricultural industry to persue a wide variety of innovative specialty crop projects,” said CDA’s Markets Division Director, Tom Lipetzky.

Fiscal year 2011 funds were recently approved by the USDA for the following projects:

1. Colorado Association of Viticulture & Enology, Mesa County, $10,000 to increase interstate highway visitor accessibility to Palisade area vineyards, orchards and winery tasting rooms.
2. Colorado Foundation for Agriculture, Larimer County, $27,000 to develop a “Colorado Fruit” reader for use in elementary school classrooms.
3. Colorado Potato Administrative Committee, Rio Grande County, $113,500 for research to identify, brand and market attribute-specific potatoes.
4. Colorado State University, Larimer County, $35,800 to conduct a market and economic analysis of Olathe sweet corn. Funds will determine if a processed product is economically viable.
5. Colorado State University, Larimer County, $28,600 to facilitate the development of a state-wide produce growers’ organization. The group would provide participants comprehensive access to marketing resources, research, food safety and grower education as well as enhance grower-to-grower networking.
6. Colorado State University, Larimer County, $95,000 to support small acreage, socially disadvantaged and beginning specialty crop producers. Funds will provide for a specialty crops coordinator and for producer grants for on-farm research and demonstration marketing projects.
7. Fort Lewis College, La Plata County, $41,800 to develop model training programs to increase the chance of success for new produce farmers to start their own agricultural enterprises in the region.
8. Plant Select, Larimer County, $30,200 to educate the public on the best local plants for western gardens.
9. Plant Select, Larimer County, $15,000 to develop a new program tentatively titled “Small Wonders”. The program will raise awareness of and realize the strong consumer demand for plants appropriate for smaller spaces.
10. Yuma Conservation District, Yuma County, $23,000 for developing test plots researching the potential for vegetables and nursery crops in Eastern Plains production systems. Additionally, the project will look at a variety of marketing approaches for promoting the products.
11. Colorado Wine Industry Development Board, Boulder County, $10,000 to host the 2012 Drink Local Wine conference. The conference will generate national and local exposure for Colorado’s wines and increase agritourism to regions that produce wine.
12. Colorado Department of Agriculture, Jefferson County, $100,900 for development of a Colorado Pavilion at the Produce Marketing Association’s Fresh Summit 2012 Expo.
13. Colorado Department of Agriculture, Jefferson County, $100,000 for promotion of Colorado specialty crops through the Colorado Proud program’s summer 2012 television advertising campaign.
14. Colorado Department of Agriculture, Jefferson County, $81,300 for administrative costs to support the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program over three years.

For more information about the Colorado Specialty Crop Block Grant Program visit www.colorado.gov/ag/specialtycropgrant or call (303) 239-4116.

For more information on this USDA grant program, visit http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentid=2011/10/0435.xml&contentidonly=true.

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