Conference committee outlines funding changes for Agriculture Commissioner budget

A conference committee meeting of House and Senate conferees reviewing the Agriculture Commissioner's 01/2009 budget described a package of amendments that add one full-time equivalent position for plant protection, move several trade and program appropriations from one-time to ongoing status, and reallocate a carryover from the Bioscience Innovation Grant Fund back to the general fund.

The committee’s changes include an added FTE for plant protection to meet rising demand for phytosanitary inspections, a $250,000 reduction to a requested state-fleet increase (leaving $500,000 in the budget), restoration of $80,000 for the grape-and-wine program, a $150,000 allocation for a pilot predator-control program targeting coyotes, continuation of $2,000,000 in food-pantry grants (funded from the State Investment Fund for the current proposal), and a $500,000 grant for autonomous-technology research to build an optical library to identify weeds such as Palmer amaranth and waterhemp for targeted spraying. The Senate conferee also said the $1,030,000 carryover in the Bioscience Innovation Grant Fund will be returned to the general fund for now,…