The South Carolina Department of Agriculture (SCDA) hereby requests applications for projects designed to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops grown in South Carolina.
Donor Name: South Carolina Department of Agriculture
State: South Carolina
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 02/23/2024
Size of the Grant: Not Available
Grant Duration: 3 Years
Details:
Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP) funds will be made available to South Carolina from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for the 2024 fiscal year budget to be administered by SCDA.
USDA determines the amount awarded to each state which is derived from a formula using the value of specialty crop production to the amount of acreage devoted to specialty crop production within that state.
Project Types
USDA AMS encourages each state department of agriculture to develop projects to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops pertaining to the following issues affecting the specialty crop industry:
- Enhancing food safety
- Developing new and improved seed varieties and specialty crops
- 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
- Investing in specialty crop research, including research to focus on conservation and environmental outcomes
- Pest and disease control
- Increasing child and adult nutrition knowledge and consumption of specialty crops
- Improving efficiency and reducing costs of distribution systems
- Sustainability
Project Period
Projects funded by the SCBGP may be 1, 2, or 3 years in length.
Eligibility Criteria
Applications will only be accepted from producers, industry, or community-based organizations involved with specialty crops. Each application must describe a project that meets the following criteria:
- Clearly demonstrate that the purpose is to enhance the competitiveness of a specialty crop industry in South Carolina.
- Use funds for activities that benefit the promotion, consumption, and/or accessibility of specialty crops in South Carolina.
- Benefit more than one individual, institution, or organization. Grant funds will not be awarded for projects that directly benefit or provide a profit to a single organization, institution or individual.
- Special consideration will be given to projects with multiple organizations partnering together to create a greater impact on the SC specialty crop industry.
For more information, visit SCDA.
