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Calif. announces IPM grants
Below is a press release from the California Department of Pesticide
Regulation, announcing recipients of grants for innovative pest management
programs. You can find the list of recipients by looking under "News
Releases" at our Web site. For more information, or the list of
recipients, contact David Supkoff at the address and phone number below or
at dsupkoff@cdpr.ca.gov.
Media contact Veda Federighi at 916/445-3974
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Kathy Brunetti, Agriculture Program Supervisor
California Department of Pesticide Regulation
1020 N Street Room 161, Sacramento, California, USA 95814-5624
voice (916) 324-4100, FAX (916) 324-4088, brunetti@empm.cdpr.ca.gov
Our Web site: http://www.cdpr.ca.gov
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DPR AWARDS $600,000 IN GRANTS FOR
INNOVATIVE PEST MANAGEMENT PROJECTS
SACRAMENTO -- A project to mass-produce "good bugs" to fight vineyard
pests in the San Joaquin Valley, a Fresno County program to teach Southeast
Asian strawberry growers environmentally sound pest management techniques,
and a project to encourage greater use of integrated pest management in the
East Bay Area are among 25 recipients of nearly $600,000 in grants
announced this week by the state's Pest Management Advisory Committee
(PMAC).
"We received applications for many worthwhile projects," said Jean-Mari
Peltier, DPR Chief Deputy Director and chair of the PMAC. "The PMAC
recognized only the most outstanding community-based pest management
programs. In addition, they focused research attention on issues of
regulatory concern where new pest management approaches are critically
needed."
Those areas include pest management projects that address the protection
of surface and ground water quality, integrated management of crop diseases
and of major mite and insect pests that are a problem in multiple
commodities, and integrated pest management in nonagricultural situations.
"These grants further demonstrate that the pioneering spirit continues
to be strong in agriculture," said Ann M. Veneman, Secretary of the
California Department of Food and Agriculture. "This just goes to show
that California agriculture is more than just eating the food we grow; it's
also concerned with how we grow our food."
In September 1996, DPR solicited applications from individuals and groups
interested in grants to pursue projects in innovative pest management
practices. The grant program is funded primarily with monies collected from
a license surcharge on produce brokers and food processors, with additional
funds from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region IX,
headquartered in San Francisco.
"Because most of the money comes from agriculture through the license
surcharge, most of the projects we are funding are agricultural," said
Peltier, "although we were pleased to provide money to four outstanding
nonagricultural projects as well."
DPR received 81 proposals that requested a total of almost $2 million.
Grants were awarded to innovative projects throughout the state, $509,318
to agricultural projects and $84,865 to nonagricultural projects. Awards
ranged from $10,000 to $30,000. The one-year grants are renewable.
Seventeen of this year's grant recipients received funding for a second
year of work.
The Pest Management Advisory Committee was formed in 1992 by Cal/EPA's
Department of Pesticide Regulation and the California Department of Food
and Agriculture. Among other responsibilities, it evaluates grant
applications, making recommendations to DPR Director James W. Wells, who
concurred with the committee's recommendations.
The committee includes representatives of all aspects of pest
management. Among members are growers who practice traditional
chemical-intensive crop protection techniques and organic farmers, as well
as government regulators, environmental groups active in the pesticide
arena, and university representatives. The committee's goal is to
encourage the development, testing and dissemination of new pest management
practices. Its focus is alternatives to pesticide uses that are critical
to integrated pest management.