The Northern Marianas College’s Cooperative Research, Extension, and Education Services (NMC-CREES) was recently awarded $1.79 million to research commercial pineapple cultivation. The project, funded by USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, will concentrate on tissue culture multiplication and the development of sustainable, climate-resilient, commercial cultivation of pineapple farming systems in the region.
“We chose pineapple as a target food crop for production because of its nutritional benefits, as well as its potential for commercial production,” said Dr. Virenda M. Verma, project director for the pineapple study.