Thanks to the support of key members of the California congressional delegation, two multi-campus applied research initiatives have recently been earmarked for federal funding in fiscal year 2006. Last week, President Bush signed HR 2744, the agriculture appropriations bill. The legislation includes new funding — $1 million — for the California State University's highly regarded Agriculture Research Initiative (ARI), a comprehensive applied agricultural and environmental research program that partners the CSU's four colleges of agriculture (Chico, Fresno, Cal Poly SLO, and Cal Poly Pomona) with the state's agriculture and natural resources industries.