The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced $7 million in funding to support 11 projects in six states to develop solutions to challenges affecting the specialty crop industries that cross state boundaries. The awards are managed through the Specialty Crop Multi-State Program (SCMP) administered by the Agricultural Marketing Service.

“The best way to tackle many of the biggest challenges in food safety and to promote markets is to make it easier for a lot of stakeholders to work together,” USDA undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs Greg Ibach said. “USDA’s Specialty Crop Multi-State Program provides the grease to help them leverage state and private-sector resources across state lines — especially the knowledge and experience of farmers and the agricultural industry.”

SCMP strengthens food safety, seeks new ways to address plant pests, disease and other crop-specific issues and increases marketing opportunities for specialty crops, from fruits, vegetables, tree nuts and dried fruits to horticulture and nursery crops, including floriculture. Funding is awarded competitively to state departments of agriculture that partner with stakeholder organizations in two or more states.

The following are the 2018 SCMP projects announced.

The California Department of Food & Agriculture will partner with:

The Indiana State Department of Agriculture and Purdue University will partner on a project to diversify sod production with sustainable turfgrasses -- $495,635 awarded.

The Nebraska Department of Agriculture will partner with the University of Wisconsin and the University of Nebraska on a pest and plant health project to improve aronia berry sustainability and fruit quality -- $479,751 awarded.

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture will partner with:

The Texas Department of Agriculture will partner with Texas A&M University and the University of California on a project to improve nitrogen use efficiency and food safety in spinach production -- $743,878 awarded.

The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade & Consumer Protection will partner with:

This program helps industry stakeholders work together to tackle big agricultural challenges. Two examples from prior years include teams targeting Armillaria root rot and listeria.

Armillaria root rot threatens both forest and fruit tree crops and affects farmers in many states. In 2016, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, in partnership with Clemson University, Michigan State University, the University of Georgia and the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension, used an SCMP award to launch a project to evaluate potential solutions including an Above Ground Root Collar Excavation planting system. So far in this multiyear project, they have demonstrated the system to South Carolina growers, established a test site at the Cumberland Valley Nursery to assess growth rate and sizing in Armillaria resistant rootstock and tested in vitro Prunus spp. accessions to analyze their response to Armillaria mellea infection.

Listeria is another challenge for farmers across the country. In 2016, the New York Department of Agriculture & Markets began using an SCMP award to collaborate with Cornell University and Virginia Tech-Eastern Shore to develop, implement and evaluate a produce-specific listeria monitoring and control program to increase food safety in produce packing houses and processing facilities. Though still in its early stages, the partnership has already organized a cohort of private-sector businesses and started testing to determine trends as a step toward developing more effective industry-wide best practices for controlling this bacterium.