Sustainable orchards, regional pest control and organic agriculture education will advance with three grants awarded to faculty in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences. The $5 million in funding for the projects comes through the United States Department of Agriculture.

The federal government is awarding $6.2 million to University of California, Davis, to study how to use breeding and genetic information to protect strawberry crops from future diseases and pests.

The four-year grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) centers on addressing expanding and emerging threats to strawberries, a popular fruit packed with Vitamin C and key to the diets of many Americans.