U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop reports $11 million has been earmarked for Albany-area agriculture programs.
ALBANY — The agriculture appropriations bill that passed the full U.S. House of Representatives Thursday includes six spending items for programs based in the Albany area and several others that impact Southwest Georgia.
U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany, who serves on the House Committee on Appropriations and the House Subcommittee on Agriculture Appropriations announced Friday that $11 million in the $90 billion bill was earmarked for specific projects in the Second Congressional District he represents.
The bill designates The Peanut Institute, headquartered in Albany, the recipient of $496,677 for continued research into ways of preventing the onset of chronic diseases and obesity in children, according to a statement from Bishop’s office.
The National Peanut Research Lab is Dawson was appropriated $1,696,885 in the bill for three research projects. Calls to the lab were referred to Agriculture Research Services (ARS) Communications Director Sandy Miller Hays.
Two of the projects, including $74,250 for research into peanut production and $704,635 for research into “long-term sustainability of irrigated agricultural production and net returns,” are ARS projects, Hays said. The third, $882,000 for research in agriculture water policy, falls under the auspices of another USDA agency, the office of Cooperative State Research and Extension Services, or CSRES, she said.
ARS employs a staff of 40 full-time engineers, technicians, microbiologists, information technology staff and others at the Dawson lab, she said.
The funds were not a part of President George Bush’s budget for fiscal-year 2008, which begins Oct. 1, and as such is not considered a budget item that ARS requested, Hays said.
“We support the president’s budget,” she said. “It’s all speculative and we don’t know if we’ll get that money.”
All funds in the bill must be approved by the U.S. Senate and a conference committee.
Also funded in the bill was $346,500 for the Georgia Environmental Training and Education Authority in Albany to “provide rural wastewater training to local municipalities and local government officials,” according to Bishop’s statement.
The Authority was created by the Georgia Legislature in 2001 to provide training in drinking and wastewater testing and management and to issue bonds for construction of facilities.
In addition, the appropriations bill directs the United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Authority to give priority consideration in 2008 to fund the “Southwest Georgia Rural Disaster Demonstration Project,” which includes activities in Baker, Worth, Mitchell, Taylor, Sumter and Macon counties.
Outside of metro Albany, the bill also proposes funding for the Tifton’s Southeast Watershed Research Lab and UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences for projects related to fruit and vegetable crops, the National Wild Turkey Federation, the Georgia Pecan Growers Association in Byron and Zion Hope Outreach Ministries to encourage home ownership among underprivileged families in Sumter County.
The bill also specifies $1.2 billion for renewable energy ventures, including $500 million in loans for new wind energy projects and $350 million for biomass and renewable energy projects funded through the Guaranteed Business and Energy loan program, as well as $12.2 million for a system to detect waste, fraud and abuse in crop insurance and farm loan programs. It also sets a timeline for USDA to implement country-of-origin labeling.
“The bill comprehensively ensures the continued strength of our agricultural sector while addressing the growing need for research in and development into alternative fuels, land conservation and innovative ways to feed our nation’s most vulnerable,” Bishop said.
Albany Herald - Author: Susan McCord
