The Georgia Farm Bureau (GFB) has awarded $94,000 in research grants to seven Georgia scientists and their research teams who are addressing production issues impacting Georgia farmers.

GFB President Gerald Long announced the recipients of the organization’s Harvest 20 Research Grants on Aug. 8 during the 2019 GFB Commodity Conference held at the University of Georgia Tifton Campus Conference Center.

“Supporting agricultural research that addresses production problems Georgia farmers are facing on their farms is one of the many ways Georgia Farm Bureau is supporting Georgia agriculture and our farmers,” Long said.

A review committee selected the following research projects from 32 proposals to receive GFB grants:

• Can Common Nutritional Strategies Have a Negative Impact on Beef Production?, principal investigator UGA animal scientist Lawton Stewart
• The Etiology & Epidemiology of Cotton Blue Disease in Georgia, principal investigator UGA plant pathologist Sudeep Bag
• Surveying and Monitoring Wood-Boring Ambrosia Beetles in Tree Nurseries, Tree Fruit and Pecan Orchards, principal investigator UGA entomologist Angelita Acebes
• Assessing Potential Impacts of a New Strain of the bacterieum Xylella Fastidiosa on Blueberry Bushes, principal investigator UGA plant pathologist Jonathan Oliver
• Antimicrobial Waxes for Produce Application, principal investigator UGA food scientist Govindaraj Dev Kumar
• Evaluating Snap Bean Cultivars and Germplasms for Resistance/Tolerance Against Cucurbit Leaf Crumple Virus, principal investigator UGA plant pathologist Bhabesh Dutta
• Evaluation of the Effect of Foliar Fertilizer in the Early Soybean Production System, principal investigator UGA agronomist Mark Freeman

The grant recipients, all of whom have faculty appointments in the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, have been invited to present their research results in a poster session at the 2019 GFB Annual Convention in December.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the research findings presented at our annual convention in December,” Long said.

This is the second year GFB has awarded grants to Georgia researchers who are tackling production issues. Last year, GFB awarded nearly $42,000 in research grants to five Georgia scientists and their research teams working to help beef, poultry, vegetable and row crop producers.

Story contributed by Clay Talton, associate field services director with Georgia Farm Bureau.