The $7 million in funding from USDA will support 11 projects in six states to develop solutions to challenges affecting the specialty crop industries that cross state boundaries.

The Propane Education & Research Council (PERC), meeting last week in New York, announced the election of a new Executive Committee, including the first woman to lead the organization, and authorized the staff to publish a 2014 budget plan for public review and comment. Paula Wilson, director of marketing at AmeriGas Propane in Valley Forge, Pa., presided over her first meeting as chairwoman. Four other newly elected officers also began one-year terms: