# USDA Announces Funding



## Barry Digman (May 21, 2003)

The USDA is ponying up $4M over 4 years. We spend more than that in one year trying to figure out why five-year old boys walk _through_ the mud puddle while the five-year old girls walk _around_ it. Oh well.



http://www.wisconsinagconnection.com/story-state.php?Id=1091&yr=2007


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## Jim Fischer (Jan 5, 2001)

Das ist gut!


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## HarryVanderpool (Apr 11, 2005)

*!! Wow !!*



Jim Fischer said:


> Das ist gut!


WOW!
When did you start speaking my language, Jim?!!


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## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

coyote said:


> The USDA is ponying up $4M over 4 years.


If I read it right its $4 million for fiscal 2008. Part of a 4 year program. So I'd suppose that similar amounts would be spent in each of the remaining 3 years. Possibly $16 million?
That sounds a little better, doesn't it?


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## Barry Digman (May 21, 2003)

beemandan said:


> If I read it right its $4 million for fiscal 2008. Part of a 4 year program. So I'd suppose that similar amounts would be spent in each of the remaining 3 years. Possibly $16 million?
> That sounds a little better, doesn't it?


It's possible I suppose, but my reading of the press release leaves me thinking that the $4M is going to fund a program over 4 years. 

http://www.csrees.usda.gov/newsroom/news/2007news/pollinatorcap.html

It's better than a poke in the eye with a muddy stick, but still skimpy. Even the USDA muckymuck was touting the "$95B in potential losses" a couple of weeks ago. One would think that the issue would command adequate funding given that level of risk.

After reading much of the commentary available on the current state of affairs generated by last weeks release of the working group paper, it seems like the whole situation is little short of chaos.


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## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

coyote said:


> my reading of the press release leaves me thinking that the $4M is going to fund a program over 4 years.


I asked a fellow who's in a position to know and he said it is $4 million for the entire period. I was mistaken.


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## Barry Digman (May 21, 2003)

beemandan said:


> I asked a fellow who's in a position to know and he said it is $4 million for the entire period. I was mistaken.


Well, it would have been nice if the $4M would have been for each of the 4 years, but as everyone knows, the US is watching it's pennies and there just isn't money available for such things as research into helping us secure our domestic food supply. We have to prioritize how we spend taxpayers money. 



> WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Hungry attendees at Justice Department conferences have been enjoying millions of dollars in meatballs and other goodies courtesy of U.S. taxpayers, according to an inspector general's report released Friday.
> 
> The Justice Department paid more than $13,000 for cookies at conferences, says a report released Friday.
> 
> ...


Heaven forbid that the apparatchiks would go without their meatballs and soda pop.



9-15 3:14pm uppitydate...


> Billions over Baghdad
> Between April 2003 and June 2004, $12 billion in U.S. currency—much of it belonging to the Iraqi people—was shipped from the Federal Reserve to Baghdad, where it was dispensed by the Coalition Provisional Authority. Some of the cash went to pay for projects and keep ministries afloat, but, incredibly, at least $9 billion has gone missing, unaccounted for, in a frenzy of mismanagement and greed. Following a trail that leads from a safe in one of Saddam's palaces to a house near San Diego, to a P.O. box in the Bahamas, the authors discover just how little anyone cared about how the money was handled.
> by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele October 2007
> 
> http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/10/iraq_billions200710


Now, what has this to do with bees and bee diseases? Well, I'm hoping that folks will nudge their elected representatives and tell them that CCD research is important, and that it needs to be properly funded.


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## aszalan (Sep 16, 2007)

here is some more info



> National Research Initiative - Arthropod and Nematode Biology and Management (D): Protection of Managed Bees Coordinated Agricultural Project (CAP)
> 
> The Arthropod and Nematode Biology and Management CAP will focus on the decline of managed bee pollinators. This program will solicit a community of researchers, extension specialists and/or educators focusing on an existing or emerging issue at the national level on the biology and management of arthropods or nematodes, and which is poised to lead to practical management solutions for pests or beneficial species. Applicants are strongly encouraged to read the entire Program Description section for current priorities and additional information relative to the program of interest. Please carefully review the RFA guidelines to ensure application acceptance.
> 
> ...


http://www.csrees.usda.gov/fo/arthropodnematodemanagedbeescapnri.cfm


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## Barry Digman (May 21, 2003)

aszalan said:


> here is some more info


Ow, ow, owwwie!
That makes my brain hurt. 163 pages of gubmint grant-request verbiage describing everything from how wide the margins on the proposal must be to the various project goals.

BUT, for your edification I've zeroed in on the part that is specific to CCD. It starts on page 47 (at least on my old Acrobat pdf reader). It describes what you'll need to do and what they're looking for.

http://www.csrees.usda.gov/funding/rfas/pdfs/08_nri.pdf

They also concede that the $4M is such a puny amount that "Due to the award size, only 1 proposal is likely to be funded for a 4 year period." I suppose that makes sense in a weird way. Rather than having a thousand underfunded projects, we'll only have one. (We should start a pool to bet on who gets the money.)

At any rate, if the deal hasn't already been done I encourage you to encourage your favorite scientist/school/entymologist to get their proposals in and get started.

I'm no research scientist, but I like the idea posited by, I believe, Jim Fischer that we need to start banking thousands of bee samples. Run 'em through that snazzy Integrated Virus Detection System machine that one Dave Wick produced and would like to put to work with the help of Mr. Bromenshenk. Seems like a huge database of bees from all over the country, from both big commercial apiaries and little backyard single-hive operations, would provide a very important knowledge base over time from which to do some serious research.


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## carbide (Nov 21, 2004)

Let's see, $1M per year for 4 years. That's about $83K per month. That should be enough to hire an administrator, a chauffer and lease an appropriate sized limosine for him. Maybe a little left over to lease a corner office with a view in a small city downtown office building.


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## aszalan (Sep 16, 2007)

carbide said:


> Let's see, $1M per year for 4 years. That's about $83K per month. That should be enough to hire an administrator, a chauffer and lease an appropriate sized limosine for him. Maybe a little left over to lease a corner office with a view in a small city downtown office building.


Another consideration is that Universities will use 25% (usual amt for USDA grants, other granting agencies may not set a cap and it can go as high as 70%) of the grant towards administrative or overhead charges.


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