CDFA SECRETARY LYONS APPLAUDS UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA FOR NEW AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH GRANTS

17 projects promoting sustainable agriculture funded through the Buy California Initiative

SACRAMENTO, November 27, 2002—California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Secretary William (Bill) J. Lyons, Jr. today applauded an announcement by the University of California’s Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) that 17 new agricultural research projects have been selected for funding. The grants, awarded by the UC system with $1.8 million in funds from Governor Davis’ Buy California Initiative, were selected because of their value to the state’s specialty crop growers.

“When Governor Davis announced the Buy California Initiative earlier this year, our growers asked that the funds be dedicated to projects that would produce real results they could use,” Lyons said. “These research projects will put new tools and techniques in the hands of growers, and that’s exactly the kind of result we had hoped to see from the Buy California Initiative.”

“The sustainability of farming and our stewardship of California’s prime agricultural lands will benefit from this slate of research projects,” Lyons added.

Projects awarded by the University of California have set objectives such as developing new methods for controlling the olive fruit fly and new strategies for organically producing fruits and vegetables. Descriptions of the 17 research projects are available from the UC’s ANR web site, http://ucanr.org/.

The Buy California Initiative is intended to boost consumption of California’s agricultural products. The initiative includes $72 million in funds for marketing and promotion, research, pest management, food safety projects, and a competitive grants program. CDFA oversees the initiative, an unprecedented effort to increase demand and develop new markets for the state’s agricultural commodities. Additional information on the Buy California Initiative is available on CDFA’s web site, www.cdfa.ca.gov.

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