WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, today applauded the decision by The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research to create a new rapid response program to help protect farmers and consumers from threats to our food supply.
“Today marks an important step forward in establishing the Farm Bill’s new Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research,” Stabenow said. “This rapid response program – modeled on the success of Project GREEEN at Michigan State University – will serve as an innovative tool to help protect farmers and consumers from immediate threats to our food supply. When emergencies strike, as we saw earlier this year with the avian flu outbreak, local resources are quickly depleted and existing research can fall short of controlling the problem. This program will provide a quick response to gaps in existing research. These are exactly the type of projects envisioned when the Foundation was created in the Farm Bill.”
The funding will enable researchers and outreach staff with the Foundation to take swift, targeted steps to help mitigate impacts during a crisis. The Foundation, in partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture, will work to identify imminent threats that could be mitigated through this targeted research. The Foundation will also establish a new guidelines to help identify additional areas where urgent research is needed.
Today’s announcement is modeled after Michigan State University’s Project Generating Research and Extension to meet Economic and Environmental Needs (GREEEN) which has successfully responded to issues facing producers in Michigan – including soybean rust and colony collapse disorder.
The Foundation is a non-profit organization that brings together unique public-private partnerships to further food and agricultural research created by Stabenow’s 2014 Farm Bill.
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