NIFA Update — August 15, 2012

NIFA Update, from the Office of the Director, is a biweekly newsletter for research, education, and Extension partners at land-grant universities and other cooperating institutions.

In This Issue

NIFA

• Three Agricultural Scientists Receive Presidential Early Career Award
• NIFA Fellows Project Directors Meeting Set
• DFCS and CIP Host Visiting Scholar from Auburn University
• NIFA in the News
• NIFA Lists Open Requests for Grant Applications

USDA

• USDA Unveils New Aggressive Tactics to Counter Fraud and Enhance SNAP Program Integrity
• USDA Announces Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers
• Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Delivers New Drought Assistance to America's Producers
• USDA Directory Records More Than 7,800 Farmers Markets
• APHIS Removes Barriers to Trade and Expands Market Access for U.S. Farm Exports
• Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Announces Support for Producers to Grow Renewable Feedstocks for Advanced Biofuels
• U.S. Forests Continue to Create Jobs and Boost Economy
• Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Announces Efforts to Assist Farmers and Ranchers Impacted by Drought
  
  

Partners

• Hinton Retires as Nevada Director of Cooperative Extension

Opportunities

• NIFA SBIR, Phase I Webinar

• 6th National Small Farm Conference Registration is Open
  

Mailbox

• Next issue of NIFA Update is August 29

NIFA

Three Agricultural Scientists Receive Presidential Early Career Award

President Barack Obama named three agricultural scientists as winners of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers. The winners are Joseph E. Jakes, U.S. Forest Service; Ian Kaplan, Purdue University; and Christina L. Swaggerty, Agricultural Research Service.

Kaplan’s research on pests and beneficial insects in plant systems was funded by The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Kaplan was honored for his outstanding work on insect predator ecology and plant-insect interactions in specialty crops. Kaplan’s research is significant because it may lead to the use of environmentally safe chemical compounds derived from plants. This proactive approach could enhance the impacts of biological control agents to manage crop pests. Visit the NIFA Newsroom to read the full release.

NIFA Fellows Project Directors Meeting Set

The first project directors meeting of the NIFA Fellows Program funded by the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) is August 16-17 at the Whitten and Waterfront Centre buildings. The Fellows Program began in 2010, and approximately 45 predoctoral and postdoctoral students who received fellowships in that year, will be in attendance. The NIFA Fellows Program is developing the next generation of research, education, and Extension professionals in the food and agricultural sciences.

DFCS and CIP Host Visiting Scholar from Auburn University

Dr. Virginia Morgan is the 8th scholar in the NIFA Division of Family and Consumer Sciences (DFCS) Visiting Scholars Program, hosted by the DFCS and the Center for International Programs (CIP). Morgan will work with several NIFA national program leaders as well as colleagues from other agencies, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to internationalize membership in the Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN). This effort represents an opportunity to advance international engagement within EDEN.

Morgan has worked in Alabama Cooperative Extension System at Auburn University for the past 20 years. She is in a new role as the state leader for disaster education, response, and recovery. Morgan has served in multiple leadership positions for EDEN, including chair, executive secretary, and delegate. Her expertise is primarily in visual and oral communications. She earned her doctorate in human resource development from Vanderbilt University.

The DFCS Visiting Scholars Program has fostered collaboration among NIFA and our land-grant university partners since 2008. Contact Caroline Crocoll, Director of the Division of Family and Consumer Sciences, for more information about the Visiting Scholars Program.

NIFA in the News

• NIFA in the News – July 23, 2012
• NIFA in the News – July 30, 2012
• NIFA in the News – August 6, 2012

NIFA Lists Open Requests for Grant Applications

NIFA advertises all of its funding opportunities through “Find Grant Opportunities” on the Grants.gov website. This site is searchable and contains summary information on all federal funding opportunities with links to the full announcements. Users can search announcements by topic, funding agency, and date, as well as subscribe to an email notification service based on these parameters.

USDA

USDA Unveils New Aggressive Tactics to Counter Fraud and Enhance SNAP Program Integrity

WASHINGTON, August 9 - Agriculture Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon announced a broad range of additional strategies to further improve program integrity in USDA's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and hold those misusing benefits accountable. The measures include tougher financial sanctions for the small number of retailers that defraud the program and new requirements and tools for states to ensure benefits go solely to eligible individuals.

The retailer sanctions proposal allows USDA to not only permanently disqualify a retailer who traffics, but also assess a monetary penalty in addition to the disqualification. Financial penalties would be proportional to the amount of SNAP business the store is conducting, which will help ensure that the financial punishment more closely fits the crime. Currently, when a retailer is found guilty of fraud or abuse, USDA can either disqualify the retailer from participating in SNAP, or issue a financial penalty, but not both. This includes new requirements for states to take specific actions that would catch fraud and abuse on the front end and ensure that ineligible people do not participate in the program. The new standards strengthen integrity by giving states an additional tool to identify cases that may require further investigation and review when an applicant or recipient is found in a federal database. Visit the USDA Newsroom to read the full release.

USDA Announces Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers

WASHINGTON, August 8 - Agriculture Secretary Vilsack announced the award of 70 grants to tribes, educational institutions and nonprofit organizations across the country to conduct training, outreach and technical assistance for socially disadvantaged farmers, ranchers and landowners. The awards are being made through the Outreach Assistance to Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers Competitive Grants Program.

As authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill, the grants bring $19 million in new and additional funding to programs and organizations to bolster assistance for socially disadvantaged farmers, ranchers and forest landowners. Grants will enable recipients to work with prospective farmers as they acquire; build and operate farms and ranches; revitalize the rural economy; and create new, sustainable economic opportunities in the region and nation. Visit the USDA Newsroom to read the full release.

Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Delivers New Drought Assistance to America's Producers 

WASHINGTON, August 8 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that USDA will provide nearly $16 million in financial and technical assistance to help crop and livestock producers in 19 states cope with the adverse impacts of the historic drought. In addition, USDA will transfer $14 million in unobligated program funds into the Emergency Conservation Program. These funds can be used to assist in moving water to livestock in need and rehabilitating lands severely impacted by the drought. Together these efforts should provide nearly $30 million to producers struggling with drought conditions. Visit the USDA Newsroom to read the full release.

USDA Directory Records More Than 7,800 Farmers Markets

WASHINGTON, August 3 – Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced a 9.6 percent increase in National Farmers Market Directory listings as the kickoff to National Farmer's Market Week. USDA’s directory identifies 7,864 farmers markets operating throughout the United States. The information in the directory is self-reported data provided voluntarily by farmer’s market managers through an annual outreach effort. Last year, USDA's directory listed 7,175 markets.

The top states, in terms of the number of markets reported in the directory, include California (827), New York (647), Massachusetts (313), Michigan (311), Wisconsin (298), Illinois (292), Ohio (264), Pennsylvania (254), Virginia and Iowa (tied with 227) and North Carolina (202). Together they account for 49 percent of the farmers markets listed in the 2012 directory. Visit the USDA Newsroom to read the full release.

APHIS Removes Barriers to Trade and Expands Market Access for U.S. Farm Exports

WASHINGTON, August 1 - The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has worked in conjunction with federal, international and industry partners to arrange for the release of 209 shipments of American products valued at more than $39 million. The goods had been detained at foreign ports of entry pending resolution of various animal and plant health questions. In addition, APHIS has helped to open or maintain more than $51 million in overseas markets for U.S. agricultural products. USDA has worked aggressively to expand export opportunities, reduce barriers to trade and push agricultural exports to record levels since 2009. Visit the USDA Newsroom to read the full release.

Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Announces Support for Producers to Grow Renewable Feedstocks for Advanced Biofuels   

WASHINGTON, July 27 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced payments for 125 advanced biofuel producers across the country to support the production and expansion of advanced biofuels from a wide variety of nonfood sources, including waste products.

The funding is being provided through USDA's Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels. Under this program, payments are made to eligible producers based on the amount of biofuels a recipient produces from renewable biomass, other than corn kernel starch. Examples of eligible feedstocks include crop residue; animal, food and yard waste; vegetable oil; and animal fat. Through this and other programs, USDA supports the research, investment and infrastructure necessary to build a biofuels industry that creates jobs and broadens the range of feedstocks used to produce renewable fuel. Visit the USDA Newsroom to read the full release.

U.S. Forests Continue to Create Jobs and Boost Economy

WASHINGTON, July 26 - USDA highlighted how our nation's forests are contributing billions of dollars to the economy and creating jobs through tourism, restoration and renewable energy initiatives. The U.S. Forest Service released its annual visitor survey, which showed that Forest Service lands attracted 166 million visitors in 2011, and that visitor spending in nearby communities sustained more than 200,000 full- and part-time jobs. The Forest Service also announced that restoration efforts contributed $21 million to local economies and reduced fire threats on 123,000 acres of land nationwide.

In addition, the Forest Service announced an award of $4 million for wood-to-energy projects and the opening of a first-of-its-kind, $1.7 million nanocellulose lab. The lab will support an emerging market for new wood-derived renewable materials that will create jobs, contribute billions of dollars to the economy and become the country's leading producer of forest-based nanomaterials. Visit the USDA Newsroom to read the full release.

Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Announces Efforts to Assist Farmers and Ranchers Impacted by Drought

WASHINGTON, July 23 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced new flexibility to get much-needed help to livestock producers as the most wide-spread drought in seven decades intensifies in the United States. Vilsack also announced plans to encourage crop insurance companies to provide farmers with a short grace period on unpaid insurance premiums, as some farming families can be expected to struggle to make ends meet at the close of the crop year.

The assistance uses the Secretary’s authority to help create and encourage flexibility within four USDA programs: the Conservation Reserve Program, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, the Wetlands Reserve Program, and the Federal Crop Insurance Program. Visit the USDA Newsroom to read the full release.

Partners

Hinton Retires as Nevada Director of Cooperative Extension

Karen Hinton, the dean and director of University of Nevada Cooperative Extension since 1998, will retire in October. Jerry Buk, director of Cooperative Extension’s Southern Area, was named interim dean and director. Hinton is the longest-serving female Extension director in the Western Extension Directors Association and the second longest-serving female Extension director in the nation.

She was instrumental in founding eXtension, a web-based community of Extension educators that combines the knowledge and resources of educators across the country. She served as chair of the eXtension Governing Committee. Hinton’s time as dean and director focused on innovations that helped expand Extension’s and the university’s reach across Nevada and the country.

Opportunities

NIFA SBIR, Phase I Webinar

NIFA Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) is hosting a Phase I Webinar on August 29, 2012, from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. EDT, for small business owners (including farmers). The webinar is co-hosted by the High Technology Development Corporation in Hawaii, and it is focused on Alaska and the Pacific Islands. Others are welcomed to attend, but capacity is limited to the first 125 people. This webinar is for applicants of the SBIR Program Solicitation to increase program understand and to learn the application process.
The SBIR Request for Application for FY 2013 Phase I funding was published June 2012.  Proposals are due by September 6, 2012. Visit the SBIR Program Solicitation on the NIFA website for more program information. 

6th National Small Farm Conference Registration is Open

Registration for the 6th National Small Farm Conference, scheduled for September 18-20, 2012, in Memphis, TN, is now open. The year’s theme is “Partnering for Success of Small Farmers and Ranchers.”  Over 800 participants are expected to attend and participate from land-grant colleges and universities, community-based organizations, foundations, farming communities, and other public and private sector organizations. This train-the-trainer conference offers educational tours, oral and poster presentations, success stories, and exhibits. Visit the conference website for registration and conference details. Early registration deadline is August 24, 2012. Contact Linda Buchanan, Tennessee State University, at 615-963-1827, for additional conference information.

Mailbox

The next NIFA issue is planned for August 29. Submit news items to: newsletter@nifa.usda.gov by August 22. If you have questions about Update, please contact the Editor: Judy Rude, public affairs specialist, NIFA Communications Staff.

To subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, please send an e-mail message to Judy Rude. In the body of the message, type: subscribe nifa-update OR unsubscribe nifa-update. Back issues of NIFA Update are available on the NIFA website.

Sonny Ramaswamy, Director


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