The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets (VAAFM) announces $200,000 in grant funds to strengthen Vermont’s specialty crop industries and producer associations.
Donor Name: Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food & Markets (VAAFM)
State: Vermont
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 01/14/2024
Size of the Grant: $100,000 to $500,000
Grant Duration: 2 Years
Details:
Specialty crops are defined as fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, horticulture crops (including honey, hops, maple syrup and mushrooms), and nursery crops (including Christmas trees and floriculture).
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA AMS) awards Specialty Crop Block Grants to the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and U.S. Territories. In Vermont, the Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets (VAAFM) administers these funds to enhance the competitiveness of Vermont and regionally grown specialty crops.
Program Purpose
Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP) funds 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
USDA AMS supports projects that address the needs of U.S. specialty crop growers and strengthen local and regional food systems.
Funding Priorities
- Research, development, and dissemination of innovative production practices to enhance farm viability and natural resource conservation.
- Pest and disease management
- Enhancing food safety and improving the capacity of specialty crop businesses to comply with Food Safety Modernization Act or food safety audit program requirements
- Value chain enhancement—including strengthening relationships between producers, aggregators, processors, distributors, retail businesses, and consumers
- Technical assistance to address efficiency, conservation, climate change, business viability, workforce development, labor issues, succession planning, and challenges facing beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers
- Market access (local, regional, national, or international), marketing, branding, and consumer education
- Producer collaboration—including establishing or strengthening producer associations and cooperatives
- Climate adaptation and resilience.
Funding Information
- VAAFM awards SCBGP funds through a competitive review process guided by industry, nonprofit and government stakeholders.
- There is no minimum or maximum award; however, they competitively award around $200,000 total each year.
- VAAFM will award grants for projects up to 2 years, 6 months in length.
Project Types
USDA encourages projects to address 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
- Sustainability
Eligible Projects
- Projects must be supported by and address the needs of Vermont specialty crop producers.
- SCBGP funds must enhance the competitiveness of U.S. or U.S. territory-grown specialty crops in domestic or foreign markets.
- If matching funds will be used to ensure all grant funds enhance the competitiveness of eligible specialty crops, you must keep adequate records to identify and document the specific costs or contributions proposed to meet the match, the source of funding or contribution, and document how the valuation was determined.
- Applicants must identify at least one outcome measure that specifically demonstrates the project’s impact in enhancing the competitiveness of eligible specialty crops.
- VAAFM will not award funds to an entity to compete unfairly with private companies that provide equivalent products or services.
- Projects where one organization specifically attempts to disparage the mission, goals, and/or actions of another organization are unallowable.
- Projects that have not received SCBGP funding in the past are preferred, but applications that build on previously funded SCBGP projects are eligible. In this case, the applicant must describe how the project will differ from and build on previous efforts.
- Applicants who have demonstrated incomplete or unsatisfactory performance with prior VAAFM grants may be ruled ineligible for participation at the sole discretion of VAAFM.
- Multi-state projects that address challenges and opportunities that cross state boundaries are eligible.
Eligibility Criteria
Any entity may apply, but projects must benefit more than one specialty crop business, individual, or organization. Applicants must describe how their project will benefit and produce measurable outcomes for specialty crop industries rather than a single business, organization, or individual.
For more information, visit VAAFM.
