The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) is seeking applications for its 2025 Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP).
Donor Name: Louisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry (LDAF)
State: Louisiana
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 03/17/2025
Size of the Grant: $100,000 to $500,000
Grant Duration: 3 Years
Details:
The purpose of the SCBGP is to award funds to projects which enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops. Specialty Crops are broadly defined as fruits, vegetables, dried fruits, tree nuts, horticulture products, and nursery crops including floriculture.
The goal of the SCBGP is to enhance the competitiveness of 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.
- Addressing local, regional, and national challenges confronting specialty crop producers.
Funding Information
LDAF anticipates at least $350,000.00 to be allocated for Louisiana.
Grant Period
Grant funds can be awarded for sub-grantee projects lasting up to two years and eleven months. The project start period may not begin prior to October 1, 2025, and should end no later than August 30, 2028.
Eligibility Project
To be considered, projects must meet one or more of the following and support a program directed toward enhancing the competitiveness of Louisiana produced specialty crops. Each project must identify at least one expected measurable outcome that specifically demonstrates the project’s impact in enhancing the competitiveness of eligible specialty crops.
- Increasing child and adult nutrition knowledge and consumption of specialty crops;
- Increasing the competitiveness of specialty crop farmers, including Native American, beginning farmers, veteran farmers or underserved farmers by addressing local, regional, and national challenges confronting specialty crop producers;
- Improving efficiency and reducing costs of distribution systems;
- Assisting 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 (including USDA GroupGAP) for small farmers, packers and processors;
- Specialty crop research, including research to focus on conservation and environmental outcomes;
- Enhancing food safety;
- Developing new and improved seed varieties and specialty crops;
- Pest and disease control;
- Specialty crop development of sustainability production practices;
- Leveraging efforts to market and promote specialty crops.
Eligibility Criteria
- To be eligible for funding consideration the project(s) must enhance the competitiveness of Louisiana grown specialty crops in either domestic or foreign markets. Reference the SCBGP-FB website at What is a Specialty Crop? | Agricultural Marketing Service for a list of eligible specialty crops and ineligible commodities.
- Individual farms are NOT eligible to apply for grant funds for profit. Producers/producer associations, state and/or local organizations, state or local governments, qualified educational institutions, non-profits, and other specialty crop stakeholders are eligible recipients for projects that help the industry as a whole.
- Applications should describe how the project potentially impacts and produces measurable outcomes for the specialty crop industry and/or the public rather than a single organization, institution, or individual. Grant funds will not be awarded for projects that directly benefit a particular commercial product or provide a profit to a single organization, institution, or individual. Single organizations, institutions, and individual producers are encouraged to participate as project partners for projects that benefit industries as a whole.
- Multi-state projects are encouraged to apply for funding consideration through the USDA Multi-State Specialty Crop Grant.
- To be eligible applicants must provide a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number.
- For organizations that are governed by a board/committee, a signed resolution by the authorized representative of the entity stating approval to conduct the project and to seek funding must be provided at the time of the application submission to be eligible.
- USDA applications are not eligible unless they are project partners with producer associations, state and/or local organizations, state or local governments, qualified educational institutions, non-profits, or other specialty crop stakeholders in Louisiana.
- Funds will not be awarded for projects that solely benefit a single organization, institution, or individual. For example, the 2025 Specialty Crop Block Grant Program will not fund a project to start or expand a farm, purchase starter plants or equipment or increase production of a single business or organization to make a profit. Grant funds cannot be used to compete unfairly with private companies that provide equivalent projects or services.
For more information, visit LDAF.
