‘Tis the season for specialty crop grant applications.
The grants are part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s effort to expand certain crops and are distributed by the state Division of Agriculture.
Johanna Herron with the Division of Agriculture says farmers of root vegetables, fruits and even flowers are eligible to apply.
“The industry we see the most applying for proposals for the specialty crop is the peony industry, and that’s the flower industry,” Herron said. “They’ve been kind of blossoming, to put a pun out there, over the last few years and growing as a sector.”
Herron said the division awards a total of about 200 thousand dollars each year.
Letters of intent to apply for specialty crop grants are due Friday.
Casey Grove is host of Alaska News Nightly, a general assignment reporter and an editor at Alaska Public Media. Reach him atcgrove@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Caseyhere.
