Study may shift where foods grow

FEDERAL PLAN: Goal is to get Northeast to supply more of its own produce

WASHINGTON

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said this week it is pouring an additional $230,000 into the food security effort, which will examine soil types, climate and economic issues that could shed light on the region’s potential to produce more of its own food. Doing so could dull the effect of high fuel prices and other transportation-related woes than can drive prices up in grocery stores.

About 80 percent of the fruit and 65 percent of the vegetables consumed in the region are grown elsewhere, the USDA reported.

The study focuses on fruits and vegetables, but researchers hope to expand their view to livestock and dairy products, said Wayne Honeycutt, one of the lead researchers and a scientist with the USDA’s New England Plant, Soil and Water Laboratory in Orono, Maine. Research should last two years, he said.

Watertown Daily Times