(Wines&Vines) - California’s Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) recently announced awards of $19.88 million in its 2014 Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.

CDFA defines specialty crops as “fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture and nursery crops including floriculture.” Wine grapes fall under the specialty umbrella, and many grants will benefit the wine industry either directly or tangentially. Below, we summarize the proposals for funded efforts, organized by categories. 

Water and irrigation

It’s not just the historic California drought that makes water availability and management crucial to agriculture.

A Continuous Leaf Monitoring System to Detect Plant Water Status to Assist in Irrigation Management of Specialty Crops: $285,906 to The Regents of the University of California, Davis 

Almond and grape crops in California were worth about $8.8 billion in 2012. Irrigation management is key. Increasing scarcity of water resources has become a challenge.

Studies have shown that measurement of plant water status provides information necessary to implement efficient irrigation management. A pressure chamber is often used to measure plant water status. This technique is labor-intensive, tedious and time-consuming.