Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Similarly, advisors in Monterey County can tap into a relatively large
amount of farm industry money earmarked for applied research grants.
Under the terms of the California Marketing Act of 1937, growers are
allowed to organize special industry boards around a given commodity,
such as lettuce, tomatoes, raisins, or any other crop whose growers have
the requisite capitalization and self-organization to form a commodity
board. These commodity boards are closely regulated by the California
Department of Food and Agriculture and typically focus their efforts on
marketing, advertising, or research. For instance, the most powerful and
infl uential commodity board in the Salinas Valley, the California Lettuce
Research Board directs its attention solely toward research problems associ-
ated with the production of lettuce. Based in Salinas, the Lettuce Board
assesses a tax on all the entities in California that produce lettuce. It col-
lects a fraction of one cent per carton of lettuce, but these pennies add up:
from the inception of the board in 1973, through 2001, the board invested
about $9 million in lettuce research, focusing on issues related to lettuce
breeding, pest control, postharvest handling and transportation, and other
production-oriented problems of lettuce farming (CLRB 2007).
In practice, preference is given to applications from UC and USDA
researchers, although some funding is given to scientists in other agencies
or with private groups. The board tends to fund proposals from researchers
who have a proven track record of successful research on problems associ-
ated with lettuce production. These preferences have made Monterey
County advisors the benefi ciaries of many board grants over the years
because they are local researchers who can devote a considerable amount
of their research activities toward applied production problems, especially
in the area of pest control. Further, the advisors' proximity to the main
players in the lettuce industry (and thus the Lettuce Board) makes them
familiar to those making the funding decisions. The entomology advisor
commented on his relationship with vegetable industry commodity
boards:
Entomol:
I have research projects with the Lettuce Board and the Celery
Board. They've been funding me ever since I got here in '87 pretty
much....And they have a philosophy I think of making a commitment
both to problems that they have and to certain researchers who they know
will work on their problems. And so there are a group of us that are kind
