WSU Awarded Grants

WSU Awarded Grants. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

Washington State University research teams have been awarded more than $15 million in U.S. Department of Agriculture grants aimed at specialty crops such as tree fruit, wine grapes and potatoes. They will receive nearly a third of the $47.3 million awarded nationally, which places them among the top recipients in the country. Dan Bernardo dean of the WSU College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences says one grant is for developing stem-free cherries.

BERNARDO: You know literally could revolutionize the cherry industry in Washington State. It involves assembling the whole chain of geneticists, plant breeders and plant physiologists, precision ag people and sensory scientists to develop a stem-free sweet cherry production system.

The research teams will study a wide variety of topics, from the most basic science at the cellular level to applied best practices which solve problems growers face in the orchard and field. Bernardo said that not only will these funds help in developing new varietals but some of the infrastructure as well.

BERNARDO: But also the automation techniques that could be used to pick them and then the sensory evaluation to evaluate consumers’ preferences for those cherries and their taste characteristics, etc.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.