MSU researchers could receive $7.8 million in funding from the U.S. government if Congressman Mike Rogers can continue to win over the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Brighton Republican has already received approval for the funding from the U.S. House Appropriations Committee. The proposal will now go to the full house and then to the U.S. Senate, if it is approved.

MSU officials came to Rogers with requests for funding under the Agricultural Appropriations Act for the 2004 fiscal year, said Sylvia Warner, spokeswoman for Rogers.

"He makes those a priority because he believes so firmly about those projects at the university," she said.

The proposal is expected to be passed in the next few months, Warner said. Funding could be awarded to any or none of the projects.

MSU faculty members said the funding will help them continue to research certain areas of agriculture and dig deeper into community projects across the state. MSU has received funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the past.

"Many of (the projects) are a collaboration with farmers in the field," said Michael Hamm, MSU's C.S. Mott Chair for Sustainable Agriculture.

Hamm said the $432,000 in funding would be broken up between 10 different projects concerning sustainable agriculture.

"Certainly people are not funding their entire research, but it provides a lot of outreach activity," he said, adding 30 MSU faculty members would be involved out of the 60 staff members working on sustainable agriculture.

Sustainable agriculture research can deal with anything from reducing soil erosion to helping farmers with their bottom line and improving relationships between them and nonfarmers, Hamm said.

The money also could be put toward eradicating bovine tuberculosis in Michigan, said Thomas Mullaney, associate director of the MSU Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health.

About $350,000 of the proposed funding would go to the cooperative effort between MSU researchers and the state to wipe out the disease that affects animals such as deer and cattle, he said.

The Michigan Department of Agriculture tests various farms for bovine tuberculosis and if an animal shows a reaction, they are brought to MSU for further tissue and lymph node testing, Mullaney said.

"We examine thousands of deer," he said, adding the disease is concentrated in the northeast portion of Michigan's lower peninsula.