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Organization Name, |
Industry Sectors or Specific Specialty Crops Targeted | Project Summary & Link(s) to Results | Federal Award Amount (Approx.) |
---|---|---|---|
Hmong American Farmers Association, |
Ginger, day-neutral strawberries |
This project focuses on training small-scale, immigrant Hmong farmers on best practice growing methods for ginger and low tunnel day-neutral strawberries, increasing regional availability, and improving farmers’ economic returns. |
$98K |
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, |
Specialty crops for child nutrition programs |
The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy will support and evaluate the implementation of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s pilot grant program reimbursing schools and early care providers for purchases from local farmers. |
$88K |
Minnesota Department of Agriculture, |
Christmas trees |
The exotic elongate hemlock scale was found in Minnesota on imported Christmas trees in 2018 and 2019. This project’s purpose is to determine the potential of this insect to survive in Minnesota and its impact on this important specialty crop. |
$95K |
Minnesota Department of Agriculture, |
Fruits, vegetables, garlic, hops, Christmas trees, nursery crops, honey, maple syrup |
This project increases sales of Minnesota specialty crops through statewide marketing, including search engine advertising, promoted social media posts and social media advertising, and specialty crop advertising in the printed Minnesota Grown Directory. |
$100K |
Minnesota Department of Agriculture, |
Fruit and vegetables |
Produce Safety Program staff will help produce growers understand the Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule by offering grower trainings at a reduced cost and help growers implement on-farm food safety improvements through a mini-grant opportunity. |
$100K |
Minnesota Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association, |
Broccoli |
This project will screen for black rot (Xanthamonas campestris pv. campestris) resistant/tolerant cultivars of spring and fall broccoli to address the persistent black rot disease which has resulted in up to 90% yield loss for fresh market growers. |
$34K |
University of Minnesota Extension Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships, |
Tomatoes |
This project seeks to expand the Deep Winter Greenhouses (DWG) production season by incorporating tomatoes for late spring/early summer markets. The project also includes a DWG tomato profitability analysis and outreach on DWG production. |
$100K |
University of Minnesota Extension, |
Fruits and vegetables |
University of Minnesota Extension will provide Good Agricultural Practices education, materials, and technical assistance to Minnesota produce growers to reduce risks and increase market access and to schools to increase local produce purchasing and consumption in farm-to-cafeteria and school garden programs. |
$100K |
University of Minnesota Northwest Research and Outreach Center, |
Potatoes |
This project assesses and develops controls for mechanical, and biological factors that help spread Potato Virus Y, a disease limiting the yield and quality of seed potatoes and threatening the Minnesota commercial potato industry. |
$90K |
University of Minnesota West Central Research and Outreach Center, |
Apples, raspberries, grapes, aronia berries, and honeyberries |
Grass weed control in orchards and vineyards will be achieved without chemicals using high-velocity abrasive grits derived from residues of Minnesota-based natural products. |
$81K |
University of Minnesota, |
All specialty crops |
This project will identify grower and consumer barriers to adoption of biotechnology (genetically engineered or gene-edited) improved specialty crops in Minnesota to reveal opportunities that improve efficiency and quality of specialty crop production. |
$99K |
University of Minnesota, |
Turfgrass |
This project will make use of genomic approaches to improve a low input turfgrass species, strong creeping red fescue, for enhanced sod-forming ability. |
$92K |
University of Minnesota, |
Grapes |
This project will explore high-throughput techniques for measuring fruit quality combined with genetic mapping to improve the efficiency of developing new cold-hardy hybrid grapes and improve production practices and sustainability for Minnesota farmers. |
$99K |
Organization Name, Principal Investigator | Project Summary & Link(s) to Results | Federal Award Amount (Approx.) |
---|---|---|
Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Angie Ambourn | Minnesota’s brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) populations continue to increase, this project seeks to expand monitoring within Minnesota apple orchards to identify emerging problem areas and lay the groundwork for implementation of biological control. Read more at BMSB in Minnesota Apple Orchards and Varietal Impacts. | $81K |
Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Danielle Daugaard | This campaign increases revenue for apple growers by developing the market for new early season apple varieties at retail orchards and grocery stores. It builds on a previous Specialty Crop Block Grant. | $84K |
Minnesota Grown Promotion Group, Inc, Danielle Daugaard | This project increases sales of Minnesota specialty crops through statewide marketing, including sponsored search advertising (pay-per-click), promoted social media posts, and promotion of specific specialty crops in the printed directory. Visit the online Minnesota Grown Directory to find specialty crops grown in Minnesota. | $93K |
Renewing the Countryside II, Jan Joannides | Having refined a model where Farmers’ Markets serve as Aggregation hubs for sales of specialty crops to wholesale markets, this phase of the project garners community support to drive sales to a level that ensures long-term success of the model. Find more information and manuals on the Minnesota Farmers' Market Hubs page. | $99K |
Sustainable Farming Association, Theresa Keaveny | The Sustainable Farming Association will increase profitability of farmers and beginning farmers by increasing premium garlic production, training farmers on best garlic growing/marketing practices, expanding markets and supply chains, and researching improved cultivation methods. | $73K |
The Good Acre | The Good Acre will help growers improve record-keeping, prepare for the Food Safety Modernization Act, and partner with a group of higher ed and healthcare institutions to develop inventory-distribution systems to expand institutional sales for beginning and underserved farmers. | $98K |
University of Minnesota Extension Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships, Kathryn Draeger | University of Minnesota Extension Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships will work with Minnesota specialty crop farmers and rural grocery stores to increase Minnesota specialty crop farmer access to larger regional markets by opening new farm-to-rural-grocery market channels. | $54K |
University of Minnesota - Dept. of Horticultural Science, Stan Hokanson | This project will determine the phytochemical differences between susceptible and resistant specialty crop cultivars and the correlation of metabolomic and genomic information to develop new control measures for Japanese beetle in specialty crops. | $99K |
University of Minnesota Extension, Annie Klodd | Develop the young Minnesota cider apple industry by identifying apple cultivars that are well adapted and produce desirable cider traits, and by educating Minnesota orchardists and winemakers on the best practices for high-quality cider products. | $94K |
University of Minnesota Northwest Research & Outreach Center, Ian MacRae | This project proposes to develop tactics that will provide better risk estimates and management of Potato Virus Y, a disease limiting the yield and quality of seed potatoes and threatening the Minnesota commercial potato industry. | $75K |
University of Minnesota West Central Research & Outreach Center, Steve Poppe | The project goal is to expand day-neutral strawberry production in Minnesota by evaluating a tabletop system that increases labor efficiency, reduces inputs, and allows for crop production on marginal land. Read this blog post and watch this video to learn more. | $97K |
University of Minnesota, Dr. Carl J. Rosen | This project will improve potato production sustainability in the Midwest through development of a new clone with improved tuber quality, long-term storage, and reduced chemical use. The clone will be evaluated for commercial production potential. | $99K |
University of Minnesota, Gary Muehlbauer | We will identify wild hop germplasm that confers field-level resistance to powdery mildew and enhanced agronomic potential. In addition, we will identify genetic markers associated with powdery mildew resistance for use in breeding. | $46K |
University of Minnesota, Lois Braun | With this project, we will begin scale-up of the Upper Midwest hazelnut industry by expanding micropropagation capacity for our 1st Generation hybrid hazelnut selections to enable faster distribution of plants to growers. | $21K |
University of Minnesota, Mary Rogers | This project will investigate fertility optimization, cultivar selection, and biocompatibility of insecticides with biological control to develop integrated pest management practices for local hydroponic vegetable crop industries. Find out more on Extension's small-scale hydroponics website. | $95K |
Organization Name | Project Summary & Link(s) to Results | Federal Award Amount (Approx.) |
---|---|---|
Farmers' Legal Action Group, Inc., Stephen Carpenter | Farmers’ Legal Action Group will author, publish, and conduct ten workshops with six partners over two years on a "Specialty Crop Farmers’ & Marketers’ Guide to the Food Safety Modernization Act," targeting socially disadvantaged and beginning farmers. | $75K |
Indigenous Peoples Task Force, Michael Neumann | Initiative to reduce health disparities in Native American communities by improving production of health targeted sweet potato and increasing access to sweet potato through education and design of value-added baby food and maternal health products. | $75K |
Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Danielle Daugaard | This campaign increases revenue for apple growers by developing the market for new, early season apple varieties at retail orchards and grocery stores. | $45K |
Minnesota Farmers' Market Association, Kathy Zeman | Minnesota specialty crop grower organizations will collaborate to converge their annual conferences into one annual conference, maximizing educational efforts and minimizing costs. | $55K |
Minnesota Grown Promotion Group, Danielle Daugaard | This project increases sales of Minnesota specialty crops through statewide marketing including sponsored search advertising (pay-per-click), promoted social media posts, and promotion of specific specialty crops in the printed directory. Visit the online Minnesota Grown Directory to find specialty crops grown in Minnesota. | $94K |
Minnesota Nursery & Landscape Association, Hannah Mathers | The overall goal of this project is to reduce the incidence of drift and carryover injury in Minnesota nurseries by finding the levels and times of applications of glyphosate and dicamba that are least problematic to nursery stock. | $100K |
Organic Seed Alliance, Kitt Healy | This project improves the quality and availability of sweet peppers adapted to Minnesota organic agriculture while increasing farmers’ capacity to do on-farm breeding projects and engage with grassroots efforts to strengthen the regional seed system. | $60K |
Renewing the Countryside II, Jan Joannides | This project builds upon and enhances the Farmers’ Market Aggregation project that develops new sales for specialty crop farmers to wholesale buyers. In addition, we will conduct a financial analysis to evaluate the sustainability of this system. Find more information and manuals on the Minnesota Farmers' Market Hubs page. | $99K |
Sustainable Farming Association, Theresa Keaveny | The Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota (SFA) will work with beginning and operating farmers to increase production of asparagus in Minnesota through improved soil health practices and expand supply chain networks and markets. See the SFA's Minnesota Asparagus Project and the Growing Asparagus in Minnesota guide for more information. | $52K |
University of Minnesota, Greg Schweser | Researchers will improve Deep Winter Greenhouse (DWG) designs, create business planning and financing tools, and conduct workshops in winter production. Check out the DWG Enterprise Budget and Estimator and the Farm Scale Winter Greenhouse construction document. | $100K |
University of Minnesota, Changbin Chen | This project will investigate several aspects of goji berry as a new crop for Minnesota farmers, including selecting elite traits, developing techniques for clonal propagation, establishing a long-term trial location(s), and breeding for new cultivars. | $100K |
University of Minnesota, Ian MacRae | This is a collaborative effort between the University of Minnesota Northwest Research and Outreach Center and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture to develop drone-based remote sensing techniques for Potato Virus Y, a severely limiting disease in seed potato production. | $99K |
University of Minnesota, William D. Hutchinson | The Department of Entomology will develop new early warning forecast tools for specialty crop (raspberry, grape) growers in Minnesota to aid in managing the invasive Japanese beetle that has recently been defoliating these crops. | $98K |
University of Minnesota, Matthew Clark | Quantification and evaluation of the effects of soil (terroir) and harvest timing on two cold-hardy hybrid grape varieties, Marquette and Brianna, grown in Minnesota and North Dakota. Find out more in this webinar series, What to do now in the vineyard. | $93K |
University of Minnesota, Anne Sawyer | This project provides food safety education and technical assistance to Minnesota specialty crop growers, helping them prepare for Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule implementation through creation of an online Good Agricultural Practices training program and in-person workshops. See the Food Safety Fact Sheets created with this grant. | $91K |
University of Minnesota, Cindy Tong | This project will test cellphone record-keeping app designs and improve a Beta version to produce a version that can be released to farmers to help them comply with requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act. | $36K |
Grantee | Project Summary & Link(s) to Results | Project Total (Approx.) |
---|---|---|
Cook County Community Center / Extension |
The purpose of the project is to assess the economic impact of growing local cut flowers and to identify their niche markets along the North Shore of Lake Superior. |
$14K |
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy |
To continue our successful Farm to Head Start program that brings fresh, healthy, local specialty crops into early care settings, and to begin bringing specialty crops to summer food programs through leveraging our Head Start partnerships. Read more about the Farm to Early Care process. |
$100K |
Minnesota Certified Seed Potato Growers Association |
Implement marketing strategies to increase industry awareness of the quality and variety of Minnesota grown certified seed potatoes to increase sales and industry reach. |
$15K |
Minnesota Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association |
The Minnesota Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association will strengthen Minnesota’s specialty crop industry by providing tailored on-farm instruction in production, marketing and financial management, and networking opportunities for beginning growers. |
$71K |
Minnesota Grown Promotion Group |
This project increases sales of Minnesota specialty crops through statewide marketing including sponsored search advertising (pay-per-click), promoted social media posts, and promotion of specific specialty crops in the printed directory. Visit the online Minnesota Grown Directory to find specialty crops grown in Minnesota. |
$80K |
Renewing the Countryside II |
Farmers often have the capacity to produce more specialty crops than can be sold to individual customers at farmers' markets, so this project will help vendors expand sales and income streams by having market managers facilitate wholesale sales (also called aggregation). Find more information and manuals on the Minnesota Farmers' Market Hubs page. |
$99K |
Sustainable Farming Association |
The Sustainable Farming Association will increase the profitability of farmers and beginning farmers by increasing premium garlic production, training farmers on best garlic growing/marketing practices, expanding markets and supply chains, and researching improved cultivation methods. Learn more on the Minnesota Premium Garlic Project website. |
$100K |
The Good Acre |
With 1:1 business development and on-farm production and food safety technical assistance, The Good Acre and partners will increase farmer readiness to access wholesale markets and increase farm sales of Minnesota-grown specialty crops. Watch videos about the On-Farm Good Agricultural Practices Education Program to learn more. |
$99K |
University of Minnesota |
Determination of the effects of nitrogen fertilization, seed source, and plant community on the production of beneficial phytochemicals in fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium) for use in natural care products. |
$51K |
University of Minnesota |
This project will increase native grass sales and improve public knowledge and awareness of the benefits of native grasses through an educational program, customer surveys, and point of sale displays at many garden centers in Minnesota. Visit the Native Grasses as Pollinator Food website for more information. |
$57K |
University of Minnesota |
Optimum harvest and postharvest periods, traits affecting consumer appeal, and consumer preference will be determined for kiwiberry varieties adapted to Minnesota. Find out more at the University of Minnesota Fruit Research: Kiwiberry website. |
$91K |
University of Minnesota |
In order to extend the season for cool season crops and marketing opportunities for farmers, we will use shading in low tunnels and pre-chilling to improve field production of locally grown lettuce and cauliflower with flavor acceptable to consumers. |
$93K |
University of Minnesota |
This project will optimize the methodologies to advance the techniques necessary to efficiently produce seedless table grape breeding lines for cold-hardy climates. |
$97K |
University of Minnesota |
To sustainably control weeds in perennial fruit plantings, the University of Minnesota will investigate the use of decomposable grit applied via an air blast sprayer with the long-term goal of enhancing economic and environmental sustainability. |
$97K |