Kentucky environmental attorney Sanders says USDA awards $4.6 million to 13 universitities for research on controlling invasive and weedy plant species. UK and UL not on the list.

USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded $4.6 million to 13 universities for research to develop ecologically and economically rational strategies for management, control or elimination of weedy or invasive species.  Invasive plants and animals are a major threat to food and fiber production, costing U.S. producers between $7 billion and $27 billion per year. 

The Fiscal Year 2009 grants are being awarded to:

• Auburn University, Auburn, Ala., $494,000
• University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska, $494,000
• University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska, $149,911
• University of California, Berkeley, Calif., $494,000
• University of California, Davis, Calif., $495,000
• Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colo., $124,962
• Idaho State University, Moscow, Idaho, $199,704
• University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minn., $493,000
• University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minn., $491,000
• Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., $454,000
• Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, $494,000
• Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, $91,423
• Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore., $125,000

Through federal funding and leadership for research, education and extension programs, NIFA focuses on investing in science and solving critical issues impacting people’s daily lives and the nation’s future. For more information, visit www.nifa.usda.gov.

Neither UK nor UL is on the list.  In fact, not one single Kentucky university is on the list.  Hello Frankfort?  We need research money from the Obama Administration to resuscitate our ailing economy!