Research Will Be Key In New Farm Bill

Agricultural and food research and development will be one of the main areas of focus as construction of the 2023 Farm Bill gets underway. Andy LaVigne of the American Seed Trade Association says continued support of genetic research through USDA and ARS is essential.

"Especially with the last 20-30 years where we've looked at base genetics, mapping the genome of over 25 agriculturally significant crops. Most of that work has been done either directly by ARS, or with ARS in combination of one of our land grant institutions."

For Jim Bair of the U.S. Apple Association, and other specialty crop growers and supporters whose crops do not fall in to the category of "program crops," Ag research support is crucial.

"We don't have the private research that's conducted in row crops, for example, for developing new varieties or other production tools. For us it's nearly all university and USDA researchers to we're really dependent on that."

If you have a story idea for the PNW Ag Network, call (509) 547-1618, or e-mail gvaagen@cherrycreekmedia.com