The Specialty Crop Block Grant Program funds projects that aim to enhance the production and competitiveness of Specialty Crop industries in Massachusetts.
Donor Name: Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources
State: Massachusetts
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 03/28/2025
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 3 Years
Details:
The overall goal of the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (“SCBGP”) is to leverage efforts to market and promote specialty crops, assist producers with research and development relevant to specialty crops, expand availability and access to specialty crops, and to address local, regional, and national challenges confronting specialty crop producers. MDAR’s goal with the SCBGP is to increase access to healthy, affordable food options, with a preference for fresh, locally-sourced, Massachusetts-grown, caught or harvested healthy food, and to improve economic opportunities for nutritionally underserved communities in urban, rural, and suburban localities.
Funding Information
- MDAR intends to fund approximately $420,000 in projects that will result from this competitive RFR process
- The suggested dollar value of projects is between $40,000 and $90,000 per project
- The SCBGP does not have a Federal cost-sharing or matching requirement.
Grant Period
- SCBGP projects can be 1-3 years in length
- Projects must be completed within three (3) years of the start of the grant period
- The grant period must begin no earlier than October 1, 2025, and end no later than September 29, 2028.
Examples of Eligible Projects
- Increasing child and adult nutrition knowledge and consumption of specialty crops
- Improving efficiency and reducing costs of distribution systems
- Assisting all entities in the specialty crop distribution process in implementing practices and standards that improve food safety which may include, but are not limited to, the “Commonwealth Quality Program”, “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
- Development of organic and sustainable production practices
- 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, 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
- Sustainability.
Eligibility Criteria
- Socially disadvantaged and beginning farmers
- Eligible non-profit organizations
- Local government entities
- For-profit organizations
- Industry trade associations
- Producer groups
- Commodity commissions.
For more information, visit MDAR.
