GLICKMAN ANNOUNCES $3 MILLION BOOST FOR RESEARCH TO COMBAT WHEAT SCAB
                                                               
                                            Release No. 0092.99
                                                                 
                     Media Contact: Andy Solomon (202) 720-4623
                                          andy.solomon@usda.gov
                       Public Contact: Jim Henry (301) 504-1611
                                            jhenry@ars-grin.gov

GLICKMAN ANNOUNCES $3 MILLION BOOST FOR RESEARCH TO COMBAT WHEAT SCAB

     SPRINGFIELD, Ill., March 8, 1999 -- Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman
announced today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will spend an
additional $3 million per year on research to combat Fusarium head blight,
more commonly known as wheat scab. 

     "This is a substantial, needed boost to our already aggressive, national
effort to stop scab," Glickman said, in a speech to the National Farmers Union
Convention. The new funding builds on the $500,000 that USDA has allocated for
scab research each year since 1997.  

     Fusarium head blight, a fungal disease, shrivels kernels of wheat and
other cereal grain crops such as barley.  It also produces toxins that can
make crops unsuitable for flour, cereals or malt--and too toxic for sale as
animal feed.  From 1991 to 1997, American farmers lost 470 million bushels of
wheat, worth $2.6 billion, because of the scab epidemic.  

     USDA's Agricultural Research Service will distribute the new funds to
university researchers and ARS research facilities.  The researchers are part
of the U.S. Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative, a consortium of 20 state
universities, supported by more than 40 national wheat- and barley-related
organizations and numerous individuals. 

     "Minnesota and the Dakotas, hit hard by this destructive disease, play a
major role in this research," Glickman said.  "From 1993 to 1998, Red River
Valley communities in those states suffered more economic damage from scab-
induced crop failures than from the 1997 floods."  

     Researchers at North Dakota State University at Fargo will receive a
total of $833,000, including $221,000 for food safety research and $53,000 for
biological control and pesticide development.  University of Minnesota at St.
Paul researchers will receive $338,000, including $137,000 to further expand
efforts to develop scab-resistant spring wheat for the area.  The seed for a
scab-tolerant transitional spring wheat is expected to be released to growers
this spring.  This is the third variety developed by ARS and the University of
Minnesota that offers limited scab resistance, but it is the first to maintain
high yields.  

     The funds will be distributed to scientists at land-grant universities
and ARS labs, as follows: 

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Ark. - $39,000
University of Georgia, Athens, Ga. - $15,000
University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill. - $87,000
Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind. - $126,000
Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kan. - $34,000
University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky. - $49,000
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, La. - $15,000
University of Maryland, College Park, Md. - $5,000
Michigan State University, Lansing, Mich. - $410,000
University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minn. - $338,000
University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo. - $122,000
University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb. - $86,000
Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. - $45,000
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C. - $44,000
North Dakota State University, Fargo, N.D. - $833,000
Ohio State University, Wooster, Ohio - $135,000
South Dakota State University, Brookings, S.D. - $160,000
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va. - $39,000
Washington State University, Pullman, Wash. - $29,000

ARS Crop Improvement and Utilization Research Unit, Albany, Calif. - $50,000
ARS Bioactive Agents Research Unit, Peoria, Ill. - $72,000
ARS Soybean and Alfalfa Research Laboratory, Beltsville, Md. - $45,000
ARS Cereal Disease Lab, St. Paul, Minn. - $90,000
ARS Plant Science Research Unit, Raleigh, N.C. - $15,000
ARS Cereal Crops Research Unit, Fargo, N.D. - $50,000 
ARS Cereal Crops Research Unit, Madison, Wis. - $35,000

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NOTE TO EDITORS: Contact for research details Roy Gingery, National Program
Leader for Plant Health, Agricultural Research Service, USDA, Beltsville, Md.,
phone (301) 504-6915 or e-mail: reg@ars.usda.gov.