UPCOMING MEETINGS Tomato Breeders Roundtable, October 17-20, 2004 in Annapolis, MD For registration information please contact: John Stommel stommelj@ba.ars.usda.gov USDA, Agricultural Research Service Vegetable Laboratory Bldg. 010A, BARC-West 10300 Baltimore Avenue Beltsville, MD  20705 XVth Eucarpia Tomato Working Group Meeting 20-23 September 2005, in Bari, Italy Please visit www.eucarpia.org to view the first announcement and registration details GRANT OPPORTUNITY USDA Funding for Tomato Germplasm Evaluation Funding will again be available from the USDA, ARS in FY 2004 for evaluation of tomato germplasm. Evaluation funding will be used on germplasm maintained in or destined for the National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS). Relevant NPGS germplasm includes the tomato collection maintained by USDA's Plant Genetic Resources Unit in Geneva, New York and the collection at the University of California, C.M. Rick Tomato Genetics Resource Center, Davis, California. Proposal guidelines are noted below. All proposals will be evaluated on the need for evaluation data, national and/or regional interest in the problem, scientific soundness and feasibility of the proposal, the likelihood of success, germplasm to be screened, and the likelihood that data will be entered into NPGS databases and freely shared with the user community.   Proposals will be reviewed by the Tomato Crop Germplasm Committee (CGC) and applicable ad hoc reviewers and ranked in priority order for funding. Funding for successful proposals has ranged from $5,000 to $30,000. However, this year’s letter indicated a cap at $15,000 to $18,000, so please plan accordingly.   The letter I received concerning this call stated, "All proposals will be evaluated according to the national need for evaluation data, the likelihood of success, and the likelihood that the data will be entered into GRIN and shared with the user community." Including this consideration should strengthen a proposal.   The letter also suggested, "This process also represents a convenient opportunity for each CGC to assess its current list of needs, priorities and criteria for evaluation and, if needed, to update that list." This may well be the situation for the tomato CGC.

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