Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/299589
w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m M a y - J u n e 2 014 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 1 5 segments of the grape industry, research programs important to specialty crops will benefit from $85 million in annual funding for Specialty Crop Block Grants. This new, multi-state program admin- istered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture will focus on food safety, plant pests and diseases, research, and crop-specific proj- ects addressing issues that cross state lines. Based on language used in the congressional commit- tee report, NGWI anticipates more multi-state grants that will benefit the grape industry. "NGWI will be providing direc- tion to the state departments of agriculture that will be implement- ing these programs," said NGWI President Jean-Marie Peltier, who points to multi-state concerns like optimizing irrigation management. According to Aguirre, the Califor- nia Department of Food and Agri- culture has increased the level of sophistication in the grant approval process to include adequate indus- try input. As such, the research c o m m u n i t y w i l l h a v e a b e t t e r understanding of the relevance and impact of its projects. A higher level of funding has been reinstated for the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI), funding that lagged during the Farm Bill delay, and the $80 million program now has a "permanent budget baseline" that guarantees its status. The National Institute of Food & Agriculture (NIFA) imple- m e n t s t h e p r o g r a m , w i t h $ 5 5 million earmarked for the develop- ment of new technology to encour- age efficiency in the specialty crop industry. The SCRI also benefits from a new grant review process that will rank projects by relevance and impact, as well as scientific merit. NGWI's committees will work with NIFA to secure funding for a number of projects, including sen- sor and mechanization technolo- gies, and continued research on trunk diseases. After a three-year delay, the Farm Bill was signed into law by President Barack Obama on Feb. 7. Twenty percent of farm bill spend- ing – roughly $200 billion of the bill's total projected $956 billion over 10 years – is devoted to farm- ing programs, with the remainder supporting the Supplemental Nutri- tion Assistance Program (SNAP) or food stamp program. In the final version of the bill, SNAP was cut by 1% and those funds were redirect- ed to programs that support farm- ers markets. With cuts that are projected to trim as much as $23 billion from the federal budget over the next decade, gone are automatic crop subsidies, which have been replaced by a $41 billion subsi- dized insurance program that will pay out only in years when farmers take a loss. F u n d i n g f o r p r o g r a m s t h a t impact grapegrowing has increased and is accompanied by reforms designed to better align research grants with industry priorities. "There's always a difference b e t w e e n w h a t a c a d e m i c s a r e interested in researching and the needs of industry," said John Agu- irre, president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG). "Clearly, industry wants near-term applied research while academics are motivated to publish their work and lay the groundwork for future innovations." In a report by the National Grape & Wine Initiative (NGWI), a nation- wide coalition representing all Jean-Marie Peltier of the NGWI says the organization will provide guidance to the agriculture departments that will be implementing the Farm Bill In the story "New Twists on Traditional Barrels," which ran in the March-April issue, the author states that wide-grain wood is considered less tannic and tight grain is more tannic. In fact, the opposite is true. In reference to the G7 barrels, it was incorrectly stated that the tiny slits in the staves are no more than 1 mm deep; in fact, they are no more than 2 mm deep. The barrels are categorized by tannin level as Origine (low tannin), Symetrie (medium tannin) and Energie (high tannin). BARREL STORY CORRECTION DEBORAH PARKER WONG Farm Bill Wins for Industry Research