California Ag Network

Tag: USDA

  • $19 Million Available To Support Beginning Farmers And Ranchers In 2022

    Being new to farming can come with challenges and many beginning farmers find themselves having higher debt-to-asset ratios and having to rely on off-farm income than more established farmers. They also have trouble gaining access to land, capital, and markets and are less likely to receive government support. This has been exacerbated by the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP), created over a decade ago, supports training the next generation of farmers. BFRDP is a federal grant program administered by the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). The program provides grants to organizations working with beginning farmers and ranchers to help improve success in their farming operations. BFRDP is pivotal to reducing traditional barriers to entry by funding new farmer training programs and projects across the country.

    Last week, USDA announced the availability of $19 million for the BFRDP in the fiscal year (FY) 2022 Request for Application (RFA). Applicants have until May 19, 2022, to apply for this year’s round of grants.

    Program Details

    Priority funding is given to nonprofit organizations, community-based organizations (CBOs), and school-based agricultural educational organizations that have experience educating and training beginning farmers. Supported programs include workshops, educational teams, training, educational outreach curricula, and technical assistance programs to assist beginning farmers and ranchers with entering, establishing, building, and managing successful farm and ranch enterprises.

    BFRDP grants may support projects that address a variety of topics including livestock and crop farming practices; land transfer strategies; business, financial, and risk management training; curriculum development; mentoring and apprenticeships; agricultural rehabilitation and vocational training for veterans; and farm safety. A portion of BFRDP funding is set aside to specifically support projects serving historically underserved and veteran farmers.

    BFRDP grants are structured into three types:

    • Standard Grants,
    • Educational Team Grants, and
    • Curriculum and Training Clearinghouse Grants

    Standard BFRDP projects support new and established local and regional training, education, outreach, and technical assistance initiatives for beginning farmers and ranchers, and the maximum award is limited to $250,000 per year, for up to three years.

    Educational Enhancement Team grants are expected to assemble a team of experts to support the development of curricula and conduct educational programs and workshops, provide training and technical assistance initiatives, or support trainers and service providers that work with beginning farmers or ranchers. These grants are limited to $250,000 per year, for up to three years.

    The Curriculum and Training Clearinghouse grants make available educational curricula and training materials and programs, which may include online courses, through collaboration and coordination with other BFRDP programs. These grants are aimed at maintaining and enhancing an online library for education, training, mentoring, and outreach materials produced from projects funded through the BFRDP program and through other sources. It will also maintain a national “one-stop” source of beginning farmer and rancher education that includes training materials and information that can be accessed online, as well as enhancing outcome-based reporting. These grants are also limited to $250,000 per year, for up to three years.

    Program Funding

    In the 2018 Farm Bill, Congress created an umbrella program – the Farming Opportunities Training and Outreach (FOTO) program – to streamline and coordinate USDA resources for beginning and other underserved farmers. In creating FOTO, Congress provided permanent funding for BFRDP, but in doing so, cut annual program funding over a couple of years post the Farm Bill. However, for FY 2022 the program has $20 million in mandated funding which will increase to $25 million in FY 2023.

    BFRDP has a match requirement and awardees must provide a 25 percent match from non-federal sources to the funds provided by the grant. However, NIFA may waive the matching funds requirement if it determines the project will effectively reach an underserved area or population.

    How to Apply

    To apply, organizations must submit an electronic application through Grants.gov after carefully reviewing the FY 2022 Request for Application (RFA). The deadline to complete and submit applications is May 19, 2022.

    For more on BFRDP, visit NSAC’s Grassroots Guide. — By the National Sustainable Agricultural Coalition

  • April USDA Lending Rates for Agricultural Producers

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced loan interest rates for April 2022, which are effective April 1, 2022. USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) loans provide important access to capital to help agricultural producers start or expand their farming operation, purchase equipment and storage structures or meet cash flow needs.

    Operating, Ownership and Emergency Loans

    FSA offers farm ownership and operating loans with favorable interest rates and terms to help eligible agricultural producers, whether multi-generational, long-time or new to the industry, obtain financing needed to start, expand or maintain a family agricultural operation. FSA also offers emergency loans to help producers recover from production and physical losses due to drought, flooding, other natural disasters or quarantine.  For many loan options, FSA sets aside funding for historically underserved producers, including veterans, beginning, women, American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and Hispanic farmers and ranchers

    Interest rates for Operating and Ownership loans for April 2022 are as follows:

    FSA also offers guaranteed loans through commercial lenders at rates set by those lenders. 
    You can find out which of these loans may be right for you by using our Farm Loan Discovery Tool (also available in Spanish).

    Commodity and Storage Facility Loans

    Additionally, FSA provides low-interest financing to producers to build or upgrade on-farm storage facilities and purchase handling equipment and loans that provide interim financing to help producers meet cash flow needs without having to sell their commodities when market prices are low.  Funds for these loans are provided through the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) and are administered by FSA.

    Pandemic and Disaster Support

    FSA broadened the use of the Disaster Set Aside (DSA), normally used in the wake of natural disasters, to allow farmers with USDA farm loans who are affected by COVID-19, and are determined eligible, to have their next payment set aside. Because of the pandemic’s continued impacts, producers can apply for a second DSA for COVID-19 or a second DSA for a natural disaster for producers with an initial DSA for COVID-19. The COVID-DSA is available for borrowers with installments due before Dec. 31, 2022, and whose installment is not more than 90 days past due when the DSA request is made. The set-aside payment’s due date is moved to the final maturity date of the loan or extended up to 12 months in the case of an annual operating loan. Any principal set-aside will continue to accrue interest until it is repaid. Use of the expanded DSA program can help to improve a borrower’s cashflow in the current production cycle.

    FSA also reminds rural communities, farmers and ranchers, families and small businesses affected by the year’s winter storms, drought, hurricanes and other natural disasters that USDA has programs that provide assistance. USDA staff in the regional, state and county offices are prepared to deliver a variety of program flexibilities and other assistance to agricultural producers and impacted communities. Many programs are available without an official disaster designation, including several risk management and disaster recovery options.

    More Information

    Producers can explore available options on all FSA loan options at fsa.usda.gov or by contacting your local USDA Service Center.

  • Improving Child Nutrition and Food Security Through Increased Dairy Consumption in School Meals

    The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) today submitted joint comments to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service urging the agency to improve nutrition security by updating school meal nutrition standards to encourage increased consumption of dairy in keeping with recommendations from the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) report and with leading health organizations.

    In 2020, the federal Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee report found that a staggering 79 percent of 9- to 13-year-olds are not meeting the recommended intake of dairy foods and thereby under-consuming a variety of nutrients during childhood and adolescence, including potassium, calcium, and vitamin D. In their comments to USDA, IDFA and NMPF noted that school children of all ages are falling short of these recommendations, and they rely on school meals to meet their nutritional needs. IDFA and NMPF also noted that falling participation rates in school breakfast and lunch programs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic are a growing concern for overall nutrition security among students.

    USDA this spring announced transitional school meal nutrition standards for the next two school years that will allow schools to continue to serve low-fat flavored milk consistent with DGA recommendations, and pause overly stringent sodium reduction targets that threaten the ability of school meals professionals to serve nutrient-rich cheeses. USDA intends to craft more permanent standards for school year 2024/2025 and beyond that pave the way for healthy and nutritious school meals.

    “IDFA applauds the USDA’s goal of creating ambitious, achievable, and durable nutrition standards for students that support positive health and development outcomes for children while improving nutrition security,” said Michael Dykes, D.V.M., president and CEO of IDFA. “The most recent DGA report is clear: children are not receiving enough essential nutrients for growth, development, healthy immune function, and overall wellness. School meals offer the most important opportunity of the day for children to get the essential nutrients they need, and dairy foods—including milk, yogurt, and cheese—are absolutely critical to building meals that children want to consume. Now the spotlight is on USDA to make dairy a central building block in its effort to craft ambitious, achievable, and durable school meal standards consistent with the DGAs.”

    “On behalf of American dairy farmers, NMPF thanks USDA for their work to enhance school meal nutrition standards to reverse the underconsumption of dairy and help students boost their intake of key nutrients,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “Milk and other dairy products support USDA’s critical goal of boosting consumption of essential nutrients, including potassium, calcium and vitamin D. Low-fat flavored milk is fully consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and is a nutrient-dense option that kids in schools choose to drink.”

    In their joint comments, IDFA and NMPF urge USDA to embrace the recommendations of the DGA report and expand nutritious dairy options that encourage dairy consumption among children. USDA can do this by continuing flavored milk and yogurt offerings in schools and setting sodium limits that accommodate use of cheese in school meal products, the associations said.

    An overall decline in school milk consumption has been identified in recent years, particularly after whole milk and low-fat flavored milk options were removed from school meals 10 years ago. “USDA can begin to reverse the trend through providing certainty for schools offering flavored milks, which provide the same micronutrients as white milk but with a flavor that many children prefer,” IDFA and NMPF said. “Flavored milks, like all cow’s milk, are a source of 13 essential nutrients, including calcium, vitamin D and potassium.”

    Similarly, continuing to recognize flavored yogurt in school meals would encourage consumption of a nutritious dairy product that has been associated with higher diet quality in children, with higher intake of multiple nutrients, including calcium, potassium, magnesium, and vitamin D. In addition to being nutritious offerings for children, flavored milk and flavored yogurt have been shown to decrease food waste from school meals and increase overall meal participation.

    View the comments here.

    The National Milk Producers Federation, based in Arlington, VA, develops and carries out policies that advance dairy producers and the cooperatives they own. NMPF’s member cooperatives produce more than two-thirds of U.S. milk, making NMPF dairy’s voice on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. For more, visit www.nmpf.org.

    The International Dairy Foods Association represents the nation’s dairy manufacturing and marketing industry, which supports more than 3.3 million jobs that generate $41.6 billion in direct wages and $753 billion in overall economic impact. IDFA’s diverse membership ranges from multinational organizations to single-plant companies, from dairy companies and cooperatives to food retailers and suppliers, all on the cutting edge of innovation and sustainable business practices.

  • Citrus Canker in Nursery Stock Sold to CA, CDFA & USDA Take Action to Identify & Destroy Affected Plants

    Citrus Pest & Disease Prevention Program — The United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed the presence of citrus canker disease in a nursery in South Carolina. The nursery sells plants to consumers through online sales, including four locations in California since August 2021. Retail nurseries did not receive these plants.

    Citrus canker causes citrus leaves and fruit to drop prematurely, and results in lesions on citrus leaves, stems and fruit. Fruit infected with the bacterium that causes citrus canker (Xanthomonas axonopodis) is safe to eat, but it may not be marketable because of the lesions. The disease affects all citrus varieties. Citrus canker is not harmful to people or animals.

    Together with state partners, APHIS is working to collect and destroy the plants shipped to consumers in 11 states and trace plants that were sold to determine additional locations of potentially infected plants. The states include Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas and Washington.

    The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) was notified that four residential properties throughout the state had ordered citrus nursery stock from the South Carolina nursery. Upon being notified of the recall, CDFA staff successfully verified that one order was not filled, removed and destroyed the recalled trees from two of the three remaining residential properties and is working to connect with the recipients of the final shipment (as of March 9). All additional host plants on these properties were surveyed and sampled for citrus canker disease and submitted for analysis, and delimitation surveys will also be conducted around these locations. These swift actions by APHIS and CDFA are focused on protecting the citrus industry as well as nurseries and other establishments that sell citrus plants wholesale and direct to consumers.

    Currently, citrus canker is found throughout Florida and in limited areas of Louisiana and Texas. APHIS is working with state partners to contain the disease, and federal and state quarantines exist in these states. Additionally, citrus canker was recently confirmed in Alabama, and APHIS is working with state partners to establish a federal quarantine to parallel the state quarantine.

    If you live in one of the 11 states and bought citrus plants online that came from South Carolina between Aug. 5, 2021 – Feb. 17, 2022, please keep your plants for now. If you purchased a plant or plants that might be infected, APHIS and/or state officials will contact you in the next several days to collect and properly dispose of any plants purchased from the nursery. You can also call your local USDA office with additional questions. Contact information can be found at www.aphis.usda.gov/planthealth/sphd.

    To learn more about APHIS’ regulations for citrus canker, please visit https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/planthealth/plant-pest-and-disease-programs/pests-and-diseases/citrus/citrus-canker.

    For questions about citrus canker in California or other pests or diseases, please call CDFA’s toll-free Pest Hotline at 1-800-491-1899.

  • Deadline Extended to Apply for Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Funding

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is extending the deadlines to apply for the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities funding opportunity after requests from many stakeholders.
     
    “There has been a high level of interest in the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities funding opportunity, and we want to ensure that a diverse applicant pool is able to apply,” said Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation Robert Bonnie. “USDA is extending the deadline for the funding opportunity to provide more time for these applications.”

    The new deadlines to apply via Grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. ET:

    • First Funding Pool – May 6, 2022 
      Proposals from $5 million to $100 million
    • Second Funding Pool – June 10, 2022
      Proposals from $250,000 to $4,999,999

    The Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities funding opportunity will finance pilot projects that create market opportunities for U.S. agricultural and forestry products that use climate-smart production practices and include innovative, cost-effective ways to measure and verify greenhouse gas benefits. USDA began accepting project applications for fiscal year 2022 on Feb. 7, 2022, and since then, Department officials have heard from many stakeholders that an extension would allow them to prepare more robust applications to further development of climate-smart markets for a diverse range of producers.
     
    Funding will be provided to partners through the USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation for pilot projects to provide incentives to producers and landowners to:

    • Implement climate-smart production practices, activities, and systems on working lands,
    • Measure/quantify, monitor, and verify the carbon and greenhouse gas (GHG) benefits associated with those practices, and
    • Develop markets and promote the resulting climate-smart commodities.

    How to Apply

    A range of public and private entities may apply, including:

    • County, city or township governments
    • Special district governments
    • State governments
    • Small businesses
    • For profit organizations other than small businesses
    • Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)
    • Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments)
    • Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) (other than institutions of higher education)
    • Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) (other than institutions of higher education)
    • Private institutions of higher education, or
    • Public and State-controlled institutions of higher education.

    In response to questions received from potential applicants, USDA has also provided additional clarity regarding requirements in the funding opportunity, including:

    • The definition of “domestic applicant;”
    • Producers’ eligibility as beneficiaries of the funding; and
    • Quantification requirements.

    Frequently asked questions are also available on the website to help answer questions.

    USDA is committed to equity in program delivery and is specifically seeking proposals from entities serving all types of producers, including small or historically underserved producers. Providing sufficient incentives to encourage producer participation and generating both verifiable greenhouse gas reduction and carbon sequestration benefits are critical to project success and will be considered in the evaluation criteria.

    More Information

    USDA published a Request for Information in September 2021 seeking public comment and input on design of this new initiative and used the nearly 400 comments received to inform this funding opportunity.  The funding opportunity has received praise from across multiple industries for its support to create innovative and cost-effective markets.

    Visit usda.gov for additional information, including details on Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities and resources to support your application.

  • USDA in California Invests in Infrastructure to Protect Watersheds

    President Joe Biden and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently announced that USDA is investing more than $166.5 million in 108 infrastructure projects as part of implementing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is working with local communities in 23 states and territories to invest in new dam and flood prevention projects and in repairs on existing watershed infrastructure, which are all part of USDA’s broader national infrastructure investment.

    Through this first round of projects under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, NRCS prioritized projects in communities heavily impacted by natural disasters as well as historically underserved and limited resource communities.

    The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, signed in November by President Biden, provided $918 million for NRCS watershed programs, which includes the Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations (WFPO) Program, Watershed Rehabilitation Program (REHAB) and Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Program. Through NRCS watershed programs, NRCS works with local, eligible sponsors including state government agencies, local municipalities, conservation districts and federally recognized tribal organizations.

    In California, the IIJA is being used to fund EWP projects to prevent potential debris flow damage in post fire burn scars and is funding two watershed planning efforts for the Middle San Luis Rey and Ventura River watersheds along Southern California’s coast.

    “The Biden Administration is committed to building back better, and this starts with our infrastructure,” Vilsack said. “Protecting our watersheds and saving lives is paramount. These investments in our watershed programs will provide much needed support for communities to build resilience in the face of climate change. We can extend financial assistance to underserved communities that live in constant fear of flooding, help with the effects of severe weather events, and put systems in place that will ensure a climate resilient future to help communities thrive in the years to come.”

    A full list of projects is available on NRCS’ Landscape Planning and Watershed Programs webpage.

    Implementing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

    Since the bill was signed into law, NRCS has hosted training webinars focused on educating potential sponsors and historically underserved communities about the funding opportunities provided by the new legislation. NRCS conducted an assessment of current needs for watershed protection and flood prevention work. This assessment supported the establishment of priorities that focused funding on the most critical and highest priority projects for improving the Nation’s land and water resources.

    In California, NRCS encourages local sponsors to submit requests for funding through NRCS California State Conservation Engineer, Greg Norris at (530) 792-5609, or greg.norris@usda.gov. NRCS will compile any additional requests received and develop a second list of projects as funds are available. For more information on NRCS Watershed Programs, visit nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/programs/landscape/.

    More Information

    Since their enactment in 1948, NRCS’ watershed programs have designed and built 11,000 dams, constructed water storage structures, flood management systems, bank stabilization, moved towns, redirected stream flows, re-established wildlife habitat and more to save lives and protect watersheds.

  • Congress Blocks Industry Input on Cattle Contract Library Pilot Program

    The North American Meat Institute (Meat Institute) said the Fiscal Year 2022 Omnibus Appropriations Bill creates a Cattle Contract Library pilot program requiring beef packers to report private business information to the government that will then be published, but blocks public comment on the Biden Administration’s proposed rules for the program.

    “Congress and the Administration say they value transparency in the beef and cattle market yet they burry this rider without debate in a giant spending bill and direct USDA to create the pilot program without any feedback from beef companies or cattle producers,” said Meat Institute President and CEO Julie Anna Potts. “There will be no opportunity for companies to provide valuable perspective on what information should be included or how it should be reported.”

    Under the pilot, Meat Institute members who purchase beef cattle with an Alternative Marketing Arrangement will be legally obligated to report proprietary and sensitive data to the government for publication.

    The law is vague and provides no guardrails for the type or amount of data and leaves program development up to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agriculture Marketing Service. (AMS)

    Finally, the law contains a provision that allows AMS to promulgate the rules without a comment period as normally required by law.

    “The Congress directs the Administration to create another onerous USDA program with the sole purpose of collecting private business information and making it public without any input from the regulated industry,” said Potts. “This is not transparent or responsible.”

    Background on Transparency in Beef and Cattle Markets

    There is robust price discovery in the cattle and beef markets. Congress established and USDA administers the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act (LMR) program to facilitate open, transparent price discovery and provide all market participants, both large and small, with comparable levels of market information for slaughter cattle and beef, as well as other species.

    Under LMR, packers must report to AMS daily the prices they pay to procure cattle, and other information, including slaughter data for cattle harvested during a specified time period and with net prices, actual weights, dressing percentages, percent of beef grading Choice, and price ranges, and then AMS publishes the anonymized data.

    AMS publishes 24 daily and 20 weekly cattle reports each week. Weekly reports start Monday afternoon and end the next Monday morning. These reports cover time periods, regions, and activities and the data include actual cattle prices.

    Further, packers report all original sale beef transactions in both volume and price through the Daily Boxed Beef Report. This data is reported twice daily, at 11:00 a.m. and at 3:00 p.m. Central Time. The morning report covers market activity since 1:30 p.m. of the prior business day until 9:30 a.m. of the business day. The afternoon report is cumulative, including all market activity in the morning plus all additional transactions between 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., and is on the USDA DataMart website. The boxed beef report covers both individual beef item sales and beef cutout values and current volumes, both of which are derived from the individual beef item sales data.

    About North American Meat Institute

    The Meat Institute is the United States’ oldest and largest trade association representing packers and processors of beef, pork, lamb, veal, turkey, and processed meat products. NAMI members include over 350 meat packing and processing companies, the majority of which have fewer than 100 employees, and account for over 95 percent of the United States’ output of meat and 70 percent of turkey production.

  • Additional International Ag Trade Missions for 2022

    As part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s commitment to expanding and diversifying global market opportunities for U.S. agriculture, the Department will sponsor four additional international trade missions in 2022, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today at the Commodity Classic in New Orleans.

    Vilsack recently returned from the United Arab Emirates, where he led USDA’s first overseas trade mission since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. He was joined by representatives from more than 40 U.S. businesses, farm organizations, and state departments of agriculture, who connected with potential customers from across the Middle East and North Africa. Those connections resulted in more than $7.6 million in projected 12-month sales to date.

    “Each year, the Foreign Agricultural Service’s international team of marketing and trade experts pinpoint new and growing global markets that offer the top-notch prospects for U.S. exporters,” Vilsack said. “Then, during our trade missions, we help those exporters – of everything from gourmet food products, to biofuels, to fresh produce, to livestock genetics – connect with prospective customers and establish or expand their international footprint. And the results speak for themselves.”

    While final dates are subject to confirmation, the remaining trade missions scheduled for 2022 are:

    • London, United Kingdom: June 20-23
    • Manila, Philippines: July 18-21
    • Nairobi, Kenya (including buyers from across East Africa): Oct. 31-Nov. 3
    • Madrid, Spain (including buyers from Portugal): Nov. 29-Dec. 3

    “The events of the last few years have certainly underscored the importance of diversifying our agricultural export markets. While we remain committed to our established customer base around the world, we are also looking around the corner to where new growth opportunities lie – in places like Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, where rising incomes and expanding middle classes are creating new demand for high-quality, American-made food and farm products,” Vilsack said.

    U.S. agricultural exports reached an all-time high in 2021, topping $177 billion. There were 28 markets, in every corner of the globe, where those exports exceeded $1 billion, demonstrating the broad global appeal of U.S. products.

    Additional information about USDA trade missions can be found at https://www.fas.usda.gov/topics/trade-missions. To receive email updates, go to https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/usdafas/subscriber/new, enter your contact information, and select the “Trade Missions” topic.

  • Virginia Tech Researchers Developing New Vaccine for a Swine Coronavirus

    To address climbing economic losses from swine that contract the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, Virginia Tech researchers in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine are developing a vaccine to combat the disease that has a near 100 percent mortality rate in newborn piglets.

    The disease emerged in the United States in 2013 and has since caused around $600 million in annual losses to swine producers. When combined with increased food prices for consumers and decreased exports of hogs, the associated loss amounts to more than $900 million annually in the U.S.

    While there are two commercially available vaccines for the virus commonly known as PEDv, neither are effective in preventing the disease. Mike Zhang, the principal investigator of the project and a professor in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering and Turner Faculty Fellow, saw the urgency for an effective vaccine against this virus.

    With a four-year, $630,000 grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Zhang and co-principal investigator X.J. Meng, a University Distinguished Professor of molecular virology in the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, are researching a nanoparticle-based vaccine to curb this highly contagious coronavirus among swine.

    Because of PEDv being in the coronavirus family, the researchers hope to gain knowledge and insight in order to swiftly produce vaccines against human coronaviruses and their variants.

    “This project will give us the opportunity not only to development a vaccine for swine, but gain insight into coronaviruses,” Zhang said. “While the viruses are different from each other, they share a lot of similarities. A lot of things that we learn from this project can be used to develop vaccines against human coronaviruses in the future.”

    Meng, also a professor of internal medicine at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, the director of the Center for Emerging, Zoonotic, and Arthropod-borne Pathogens, and the interim director of the Fralin Life Sciences Institute, lent his help with his renowned knowledge as a virologist.

    “PEDv is one of the most devastating illnesses in the swine industry,” Zhang said. “Right now, we don’t have a good mitigation method. We want a safe and reliable tool in the arsenal of those in industry and our research will lead to that.”

    Over the last few years, vaccine development has targeted a safer, more effective way to deliver an immune response. So far, that target has landed on nanoparticle-based vaccines, to safely deliver a strong immune response in hosts to protect against disease.

    With the combination of nanotechnology and immunology work, the researchers targeted this delivery platform to develop nanoparticles displaying viral proteins as a vaccine candidate. The nanoparticle allows the researchers to put molecular adjuvant inside the particle, allowing it to become more potent.

    “Once you decorate the nanoparticle with viral proteins, the nanoparticle looks like a virus particle,” Zhang said. “Once you give that to the animal, it can have a very strong immune response toward the viral proteins on the nanoparticle to protect the vaccinated animals from the invading virus.”

    This platform has been used for other vaccines, and the researchers thought that because of its success elsewhere, it would be a good candidate for their PEDv vaccine.

    With the nanoparticle platform, the immune response can last quite a long time once injected into the subject. The initial shot could last as long as six months with a booster needed to complete the vaccine series – a common practice among vaccines of varying delivery platforms.

    “If we formulate the nanoparticle well, the immunity the vaccine can provide protection for is around half a year,” Zhang said. “But we have not tested beyond that duration using the nanoparticle delivery platform. It’s an extremely important subject to tackle.

    “This is a good duration to target,” Zhang continued, “because a body really doesn’t need a lot of antibodies circulating to provide a good immune response.”

    With the continued support of the Center for Emerging, Zoonotic, and Arthropod-borne Pathogens, the Fralin Life Sciences Institute, and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the researchers have cutting-edge technology to tackle current and future viruses in animals of all species. 

    This project is supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, AFRI project (#2021-08581).

  • New Federal Advisory Committee for Urban Agriculture to Meet March 23-24 

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will host the first public meeting of the inaugural Federal Advisory Committee for Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production on March 23-24, 2022.  The public – including urban producers– is encouraged to attend.

    “I look forward to working with this new urban agriculture federal advisory committee,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “The committee’s valuable insights and expertise will provide critical guidance to help us better serve urban agricultural producers, strengthen local food systems, and increase equity and access to healthy, local food.”

    The new federal advisory committee is part of USDA’s efforts to support urban agriculture, creating a network for feedback. Members were announced last month, and include agricultural producers, and representatives from the areas of higher education or extension programs, non-profits, business and economic development, supply chains and financing.

    About the Meeting   

    USDA’s Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production is coordinating the meeting, which runs from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET on March 23 and 24, 2022. To attend, register by March 18, 2022.

    At the meeting, committee members will discuss administrative matters and consult on the National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Notice of Funding Opportunity for the Urban, Indoor and Emerging Agriculture grants.

    Members of the public who wish to submit comments or questions related to urban agriculture may submit them via www.regulations.gov.

    Comments must be submitted by March 18, 2022.

    For special accommodations, please contact Leslie Glover at (602) 395-9536 or UrbanAgricultureFederalAdvisoryCommittee@usda.gov.

    Additional details are available in the March 8, 2022 Federal Register notice and online at farmers.gov/urban or on the committee’s webpage.

    USDA and Urban Agriculture 

    The Federal Advisory Committee for Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production is part of a broad USDA investment in urban agriculture. Other efforts include:

    • Grants that target areas of food access, education, business and start-up costs for new farmers, and policy development related to zoning and other urban production needs.
    • Cooperative agreements that develop and test strategies for planning and implementing municipal compost plans and food waste reduction plans.
    • Investing $260,000 for risk management training and crop insurance education for historically underserved and urban producers through partnerships between USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) and the University of Maryland, University of Connecticut, and Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems.
    • Providing technical and financial assistance through conservation programs offered by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).
    • Organizing 11 Farm Service Agency (FSA) urban and suburban county committees. FSA will organize additional committees.

    The Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production was established through the 2018 Farm Bill. It is led by NRCS and works in partnership with numerous USDA agencies that support urban agriculture. Its mission is to encourage and promote urban, indoor, and other emerging agricultural practices, including community composting and food waste reduction.

    More information is available at farmers.gov/urban and the new Federal Advisory Committee for Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production website at www.usda.gov/partnerships/advisory-committee-urban-ag-innovative-production.

    Additional resources that may be of interest to urban agriculture entities include grants from USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture as well as FSA loans.