Cal Poly Strawberry Center Among Researchers Named in $4.5 Million Grant

The Cal Poly Strawberry Center, along with a team of scientists throughout California and Florida, was awarded a grant to identify strawberry plants with natural disease resistance. The $4.5 million grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the U.S. Department of Agriculture was awarded to improve the disease resistance and sustainable production of strawberries throughout the nation. The Cal Poly Strawberry Center will receive about $480,000 of the grant funding for research on campus. The center will conduct field and laboratory research aimed at accelerating the development of disease-resistant strawberry cultivars and pathogen detection techniques. Gerald Holmes, director, and Kelly Ivors, plant pathologist and associate professor, will lead the Cal Poly team. “This grant allows the Cal Poly Strawberry Center to play a central and critical role in a national project of great importance to the strawberry industry,” said Holmes. “The long-term goal is to increase the sustainability of strawberry production across the U.S.”

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