The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry is currently accepting applications for its Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.
Donor Name: Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry
State: Maine
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 03/16/2023
Size of the Grant: Up to $100,000
Grant Duration: 2 years
Details:
Project Strategies
The USDA encourages States to develop projects to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops with emphasis on the following strategies to enhance the Specialty Crop industry:
- Enhanced 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 (including USDA GroupGAP) 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 for 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.
Funding Information
The Department anticipates making multiple awards of up to $100,000 each as a result of this RFA process.
Grant Period
Period of Performance: 09/30/2023 – 09/29/2025
Eligibility Criteria
Provided that Applications meet all the specifications in this Request for Applications and the USDA’s Notice of Federal Assistance, the following entities are eligible to apply for this grant:
- Individuals
- Commodity groups
- Agricultural organizations
- Buy-local organizations
- Colleges and universities
- Producers, including Native American and disadvantaged farmers
- Municipalities
- State agencies
- Agricultural nonprofit organizations.
For more information, visit State of Maine.