Newhouse Announces $5M Grant to Support Northwest Hop Research

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) released the following statement after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) awarded $4,853,908, under the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) grants program, to Washington State University to conduct research on enhancing supply chain sustainability and global competitiveness for pacific northwest hops. This funding was authorized through the 2018 Farm Bill.

"As one of the leading producers of specialty crops in the country, our regional future depends on finding ways to ensure that our farmers can get their products to market," said Rep. Newhouse. "This funding will go a long way toward ensuring that our producers are able to weather unstable and broken supply chain conditions like the ones we are currently experiencing. I applaud the USDA on this decision to support Central Washington's hop industry, and I congratulate WSU on this well-deserved funding award."

Background:

USDA awarded a total of $74 million to 21 recipients through the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) grants program. SCRI program investments address critical challenges facing conventional and organic food and agricultural production systems across the specialty crop industry. The program's priority focus areas include improving crop characteristics, managing threats from pests and diseases, improving production efficiency, profitability, and technological innovation, and mitigating food safety hazards. SCRI gives priority to projects that are multistate, multi-institutional, or trans-disciplinary, and include ways to communicate results to producers and the public.

###