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Home > News & Annoucements > USDA grant to help Fresno State organic farming initiative08.04.2008
A $250,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant will boost organic agricultural research and education at California State University, Fresno, beyond a greenhouse and a small plot for vegetables certified earlier this year. The student-operated Rue and Gwen Gibson Farm Market at Barstow and Chestnut avenues sells student-produced organic vegetables and greenhouse-grown organic herb and vegetable seedlings for use by home gardeners. The three-year award is from the USDA's Hispanic-Serving Institution Education Grant Program. It will establish Fresno State's organic farming initiative under the Sustainable Agroecosystems and Efficient Resource Management program housed within the College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology. Dr. Sajeemas Pasakdee, soil scientist/agronomist in the California Agricultural Technology Institute at Fresno State, and Dr. Ganesan Srinivasan, director of the university's farm opperations, will be the principal investigators for the grant. Pasakdee has expertise and training in sustainable agriculture and organic farming; Srinivasan has extensive experience in international agriculture and sustainable farming systems in the developing world. "This grant is most timely and will help us expand our capacity to do research and train students in organic farming and sustainable agriculture," Pasakdee said. In addition to teaching and research at Fresno State, she is an environmental representative on the California Department of Food and Agriculture Organic Product Advisory Committee. Srinivasan said the project helps fulfill "Fresno State's commitment to promoting sustainable and environmentally friendly farming practices in its campus farm." U.S. sales of organic food and beverages frew from $1 billion in 1990 to more than $20 billion in 2007, with double-digit annual growth projected for the next decade. California leads the nation with over 500,000 acres certified for organic production. Fresno State's organic agircultural program has been in the planning stages since 2004. In February, California Certified Organic Farmers certification was received for the greenhouse under the supervision of Calliope Correia, university Horticulture Enterprise manager, and Dr. John Bushoven, a plant science professor. "This provides us a with a year-round production facility for organic seedlings of various herbs and vegetables that we sell at the Gibson Farm Market and plant on our farm," Srinivasan said. "This summer, we had limited production of organic bell peppers, green beans and zucchini that were sold in the market." Organic crop production plans include additional acreage adjacent to Campus Pointe, a mixed-use development being built on Chestnut Avenue, Srinivasan said. He explained that before farmland can be certified for organic production, there must be a minimum three-year transition when no chemical pesticides or synthetic fertilizers are applied. In 2004, Drs. James Farrar and Dave Goorahoo of Fresno State's Department of Plant Science initiated a .8-acre plot for organic vegetable production, where recent plan science graduate student Namratha Reddy conducted thesis research. The land recently was certified for organic production. USDA's competitive grants program helps Hispanic-serving institutions such as Fresno state, to conduct higher-education programs in food and agricultural sciences, Pasakdee said. The aim is to attract outstanding students and train them to enhance the nation's food and agricultural scientific and professional workforce upon graduation. In addition to the organic agriculture initiative, Pasakdee is conducting a research project, "Developing Best Management Practices for the Application of Food Processing By-products on California Farmlands." For more information about the organic initiative, contact Pasakdee at spasakdee@csufresno.edu.
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