7 U.S.C. § 7628 — Support for research regarding diseases of wheat, triticale, and barley caused by Fusarium graminearum or by Tilletia indica

(a) Grants authorized. The Secretary of Agriculture may give grants to groups of land-grant colleges and universities to run multi-state research fighting two crop diseases in wheat, triticale, and barley: "wheat scab," caused by Fusarium graminearum and related fungi, and "Karnal bunt," caused by Tilletia indica and related fungi. (b) What the research covers. Grant money can fund (1) studying how wheat scab or Karnal bunt spreads, and the toxic properties of vomitoxin, a poison these fungi produce in infected grain; (2) developing farming practices that lower the risk of these diseases; (3) developing (A) accurate ways to test grain for Karnal bunt or wheat scab and its vomitoxin contamination, (B) post-harvest handling methods for infected grain, and (C) milling and processing methods to make wheat-scab-contaminated grain safe; (4) expanding plant-breeding work to make these crops more resistant, including setting up a regional testing site for advanced breeding material and a system to bring in and evaluate new genetic material; and (5) developing and deploying new fungicide methods and other chemical controls to use until more resistant crop varieties exist. (c) Sharing information. Grant funds can also pay for networks that gather and spread research, extension, and outreach information about these two diseases. (d) Oversight. The Secretary may set up a committee of directors from the agricultural experiment stations in the states whose land-grant colleges belong to the grant-receiving group, to oversee how the money is used. (e) Funding. Congress authorizes (1) whatever money is necessary for fiscal years 1999 through 2013, (2) $10,000,000 per year for 2014 through 2018, and (3) $15,000,000 per year for 2019 through 2023. (f) Overhead limit. A grant recipient cannot spend more than 10 percent of its grant money on indirect (overhead) costs.