WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Webb and Mark R. Warner today announced that the Fiscal Year 2010 Agriculture, Rural Development, and FDA Appropriations bill adopted 80-17 by the Senate on Tuesday night includes $873,000 in funding for three projects based at Virginia Tech. The appropriations were requested jointly by Senators Webb and Warner.
“These programs will promote research in renewable, ag-to-energy technology and advanced forestry products,” Senator Warner said. “These funds also will be used to boost Virginia’s $43 million-a-year commercial aquaculture industry, which now ranks as Virginia’s 15th top commodity.”
“Today’s investment is a testament to Virginia’s innovative and diverse industries that are vital to future economic growth and job creation,” said Senator Webb. “The initiatives outlined will assist area businesses in developing efficient and cost-effective food and energy resources for the Commonwealth and the nation as a whole.”
The following programs have been funded:
Funding will be used to enhance the capabilities and economic viability of farmers by conducting cutting-edge basic and applied research for the conversion of crops, agricultural and animal waste to value-added products such as fuels, bio-oils, fertilizers, and other industrial products.
Funding will provide technical and scientific assistance to firms engaged in commercial seafood aquaculture production. The firms are located in economically depressed regions of the state and should result in significant economic development and the creation of new employment opportunities in communities where many people were once employed in the textile, furniture, mining, and tobacco industries. Specifically, funding will be used for systems engineering; food processing and safety; nutrition; fish and shellfish health; fishery biology; and laboratory supplies.
Funding will support the creation of a design-evaluation-implementation system for development of new composite building products and assessing the economic viability of newly identified products and forest management strategies. Focus will be linkages between intensive forest management practices to advanced wood and cellulose composite technology for development of innovative products from renewable raw materials