The Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce is accepting applications for Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.
Donor Name: Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce
State: Mississippi
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 03/20/2024
Size of the Grant: Not Available
Grant Duration: 2 Years
Details:
The Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP) assists State departments of agriculture in the 50 States, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands to enhance the competitiveness of U.S. grown specialty crops by:
- Leveraging efforts to market and promote specialty crops;
- Assisting producers with research and development relevant to specialty crops;
- Expanding availability and access to specialty crops; and
- Addressing local, regional, and national challenges confronting specialty crop producers
Project Types
SCBGP encourages States to develop projects solely to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops pertaining to the following issues affecting the specialty crop industry:
- enhancing food safety;
- improving the capacity of all entities in the specialty crop distribution chain to comply with the requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act, for example, by developing “Good Agricultural Practices,” “Good Handling Practices,” “Good Manufacturing Practices,” and in cost-share arrangements for funding audits of such systems for small farmers, packers and processors;
- investing in specialty crop research, including research to focus on conservation and environmental outcomes;
- developing new and improved seed varieties and specialty crops;
- pest and disease control;
- increasing child and adult nutrition knowledge and consumption of specialty crops;
- improving efficiency and reducing costs of distribution systems; and
- sustainability
Project Duration
Specialty crop block grant funds will be made available around September 30, 2025. Funded projects must be completed by September 29, 2027.
Eligible Applicants
The Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce is the authorized agency to assume the lead role in the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP). According to USDA guidelines, grant funds cannot be awarded for projects that solely benefit a particular commercial product or provide a profit to a single organization, institution, or individual because these projects do not enhance the specialty crop industry’s competitiveness. Single organizations, institutions, and individuals are encouraged to participate as project partners.
- To be eligible for a grant, projects must enhance the competitiveness of Mississippi grown specialty crops in either domestic or foreign markets. Specialty crops are defined in law as “fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, and horticulture and nursery crops, including floriculture.” Specialty crops are plants that are intensively cultivated. There are many plants that are specialty crops when cultivated but are also collected from wild populations. Wild plants are not considered specialty crops even though they may be used for the same purpose as cultivated plants.
- Proposals are encouraged from state and local organizations, academia, producer associations, industry or community-based groups, and other specialty crop organizations. Applicants may submit more than one proposal. If more than one proposal is submitted, please prioritize the submissions.
For more information, visit MDAC.
