The washington state department of agriculture will enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops through leveraging efforts to market and promote specialty crops; assisting producers with research…

The Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service awarded $4.269 million to the State of Washington Department of Agriculture on September 30, 2025, under the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (CFDA 10.170) to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops through research, development, marketing, and education activities. The award runs through September 29, 2028, and encompasses 19 sub-awarded projects across eight research initiatives, four education and outreach projects, three marketing projects, and four cross-functional projects targeting winter peas, hops, apples, pears, walnuts, and stone fruit (cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots) throughout Washington State.

Sub-recipients include Washington State University, which leads multiple research efforts: decision aid toolkit development for pear harvest and storage (Agricultural Research Service, Pacific West Area); integrated pest management implementation in honey bee colonies; market development for novel winter peas exploring nutritional and processing characteristics; optimization of legume-rhizobia symbiosis for pest tolerance and nitrogen fixation; assessment of virus threats in uncultivated Prunus species; development of Codling Moth biopesticides; heat mitigation tools for raspberry production; and high-quality shelf-stable sweet cherries using vacuum microwave drying technology. WSU also delivers supplementary food safety training for the Washington produce industry and supports registered nurseries maintaining virus-tested grape planting materials.

Additional sub-recipients and their work include Central Washington University examining food safety risks of non-alcoholic hop waters; Organic Seed Alliance developing a market for dry-farmed tomatoes and melons; Living Well Kent Collaborative expanding local markets for specialty crops grown by beginning farmers; Compliance Services International Consultants connecting producers to resources for Endangered Species Act pesticide mitigation; Washington State Fruit Commission conducting omics research on dark sweet cherry intake and obesity-related disease risk factors; Washington Hop Commission mitigating downy mildew throughout hop propagation; Northwest Cider Association driving direct-to-consumer market access for Washington cideries; and Washington Red Raspberry Commission opening the Korean market for Washington frozen raspberries.

The washington state department of agriculture will enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops through leveraging efforts to market and promote specialty crops; assisting producers with research and development relevant to specialty crops; expanding availability and access to specialty crops; and addressing local, regional, and national challenges confronting specialty crop producers through a variety of activities/projects with their grant recipients. The state's sub-awards include 8 research projects, 4 education and outreach projects, 3 marketing project and 4 projects that cross more than one focus area to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops including winter peas, hops, apples, pears, walnuts, cherries, peaches, nectarines, and apricots throughout the state of washington.