Fifteen projects, including four in western South Dakota, have been awarded grants adding up to $185,625 for specialty crops such as fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture and nursery crops, including floriculture.

The Specialty Crop Block Grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture came through the South Dakota Department of Agriculture.

The western South Dakota projects were:

- Dakota Hops of Spearfish. $10,000 for a project to demonstrate that hops can be grown in South Dakota and provide brewers with quality, fresh hop varieties tailored to their brewing requirements and to provide knowledge and resources for increased production and processing of hops in this region. The purpose of grant project is to move from the production phase of conducting field trials for testing the feasibility of growing hops in South Dakota and move toward the processing functions of harvesting, drying and packaging.

- Thelma Deffenbaugh of Gregory County. $2,188 to increase the reliable information available to landowners, specifically to growing ginseng and hazel nuts as specialty crops along the Missouri River in South Dakota.

- Capital City Farmers Market of Pierre. $4,450 to provide the "Growing for Market" newsletter and a set of books dealing with growing specialty crops to 12 South Dakota libraries and select Cooperative Extension Service offices.

- Happy Hydros of Chamberlain. $10,000 to educate consumers and retailers about the availability and quality of hydroponic tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers produced in the state.

Other grants went to:

- Dakota Rural Action, $5,000 to increase consumer awareness and support for locally grown food products in South Dakota and to create marketing infrastructures that increase local markets for South Dakota food producers in western and east-central South Dakota.

- Woonsocket FFA Chapter, $6,335 to create a new value-added market for watermelon and muskmelon; to educate high school students on communication and marketing plans; to educate the public on the nutritional values of watermelon and muskmelon and to increase the storage life of melons.

- Chateau Sylvania Vineyard and Winery of Toronto. $9,800 to provide a mechanism by which traditional vitis vinifera grape vines can be grown in cold-weather areas.

- South Dakota Agriculture Museum of Brookings, $14,650 to develop a grape and winery exhibit that highlights the history and development of the farm wine industry and its role in economic development and promotion of specialty crops in South Dakota.

- South Dakota Department of Health, $10,000 to provide resources and information to encourage South Dakotans to purchase locally grown fruits and vegetables.

- George Thomas Stepp of Elk Point, $10,000 to begin establishing a Super Berry market for the state of South Dakota and the Midwestern region.

- South Dakota State University, $9,085 to explore the potential to develop the medicinal plant oshá (L.porteri) as a cultivated plant (in lieu of wild-harvest) and as an economic resource for Native American communities; and $8,700 to provide youth the opportunities to grow a variety of vegetable crops; to provide nutritional information on select vegetable crops; to promote diversity of vegetable consumption; to promote increased vegetable consumption and to promote the purchase of locally produced vegetables.

- South Dakota Department of Agriculture. $17,000 to provide both beginning and experienced specialty crop producers easy-to-find information and training about food safety and regulations for direct marketing; $10,000 to increase the number of beginning specialty crop producers who are willing to demonstrate economically sustainable and commercial production; and $41,542 to promote the South Dakota wine industry and educate consumers about the quality of South Dakota wines.