$301,000 grant given to West Virginia for specialty crop block grants

CHARLESTON, WV (WVNS) — The state of West Virginia received a funding of $301,000 that will be shared among eight different West Virginia agribusinesses, organizations, and agencies in FY 2024 Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP).

According to a press release from the West Virginia Department Of Agriculture, the funding was from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and administered through the West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA). This funding will specifically help and strengthen West Virginia’s specialty crop industry through research, education, and marketing.

Specialty crops include:

• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Tree nuts
• Dried fruits
• Horticulture and nursery crops, including floriculture

“Here in West Virginia, a vast majority of our farms are small, family-owned businesses. Many of them are niche operations that take specialty crops available here in the Mountain State and market them to a wider audience. SCBG help drive innovation and grow our industry,” said Commissioner of Agriculture Kent Leonhardt.

The Specialty Crop Block Grants were awarded to:

• West Virginia University ($69,356.00): WVU has a plan to promote the agricultural diversity and the economy of specialty crops in West Virginia. A team from the Davis College of Agriculture and Extension will assess 32 varieties of hop.
• West Virginia University – Parkersburg ($53,254.00): WVU-P agriculture department and partners is focusing on increasing agriculture educational capacity to train agriculturists about specialty crops, specifically focusing on how to keep pests away.
• JarHead Farms ($14,984.00) : Their plan is to provide the thermal processing, co-pack facility that is required to help the fruit expansion process necessary for fruit production in Southern West Virginia.
• Mountaineer Beekeepers Association ($14,532.16): The Association will use a community-based honey extraction program by placing and using modern honey extraction supplies around the Mountain State.
• West Virginia Farmers Market Association ($43,320.18): The WVFMA wants to improve agricultural literacy, increase and encourage fruit and vegetable consumption, and make the relationship stronger between local farmers and consumers through summer education library programs.
• Patriot Gardens ($45,782.00): Patriot Gardens will focus on using edible plants parts to show that this practice can increase profits, particularly using blooms/blossoms and leaves.
• Green Thumb Botanicals ($14,920.00): The farm wants to focus on changing the growth of local elderberries by evaluating disease resistance, insect pest resilience, and understand how various elderberry varieties grow and thrive in West Virginia.
• Mountain State Flower Farm ($11,908.96): The farm will research different varieties and cultivars of specialty cut flowers and foliage, which in turn will be grown in an unheated high tunnel, just in time to bloom for Thanksgiving Day, which will then be sold.

The press release continues saying that the WVDA received a total of $32,849 to manage the grant program.

For a total of $72.9 million, the USDA funded 524 projects through 2024 grants to 54 states, territories, and the District of Columbia through the SCBGP.

For more information, contact Maggie Blankenship at mblankenship@wvda.us or 304-558-2210.

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