| The U.S. House of Representatives approved an agriculture spending bill
late Tuesday that includes about $32 million for North Dakota research
projects.
The appropriations bill, approved 379-33, includes nearly $13 million
for the federal Red River Valley Agricultural Research Center in Fargo and
about $5.7 million for agricultural research at North Dakota State
University.
About $800,000 is set aside in the bill to fund food safety research at
NDSU.
The research project will include identifying areas of the nations
food supply system that are most vulnerable to bioterrorism, said Lisa
Nolan, director of the universitys Great Plains Institute of Food
Safety.
Were hoping we can do a lot of good here, Nolan said.
For the Fargo-based ARS research center, the bill provides an
additional $1.4 million in annual research funding, said Larry Chandler,
the centers director.
Anytime we get new funding it helps us expand our ability to help
North Dakota producers and other producers in the region, Chandler
said.
The funding increase would bolster the centers small-grain and
sunflower research programs, he said.
The House bill includes about $8.3 million for the Agricultural
Research Services Grand Forks laboratory and $3.2 million for the ARS
center in Mandan, U.S. Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., said.
The bills total price tag is $75.9 billion and also includes about
$1.6 million for research projects at the University of North Dakota.
The bill could reach the Senate floor today, a spokesperson for U.S.
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said.
Other appropriations include:
E $800,000 to establish a crop diversification consortium between NDSU
and the Jefferson Institute, a nonprofit research center in Columbia, Mo.
E $$$960,000 for NDSU, the Fargo ARS center and other national
initiative members to expand research of sclerotinia, a disease that
damages broad-leaf crops such as canola, sunflowers, soybeans, edible
beans and lentils. |