WASHINGTON — The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) invites stakeholders to submit project proposals for fiscal year (FY) 2020 to implement the National Clean Plant Network (NCPN) program of the Plant Protection Act, Section 7721. APHIS has $5,000,000 in funding to support the projects with priority given to proposals that focus on specialty crops.
The open period will last for 12 weeks starting August 1, 2019, through October 18, 2019. USDA encourages stakeholders interested in learning more about the NCPN program to visit our website.
The NCPN provides high quality propagative plant material free of plant pathogens to help U.S. specialty crop growers compete in the global market. NCPN program priorities include:
- Promoting the introduction, diagnosis, treatment, establishment and release of clean plant materials for commercial development;
- Conducting methods development to test and advance therapies designed to ensure plant material is healthy and clean;
- Developing partnerships with university extension offices, state departments of agriculture, and other entities to interact with commercial nurseries, industry associations and producers; and
- Developing and implementing best practices and quality control protocols or growing high quality propagative plant material.
Funding is available for land-grant universities, non-land-grant colleges of agriculture, state agricultural experiment stations, and State and Federal agencies. Proposals focused on specialty crops have funding priority.
This program is included in the USDA Implementation Plan for Section 7721 of the Plant Protection Act and aligns with the activities conducted under the Plant Pest and Disease Management and Disaster Prevention Program.
–USDA APHIS
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