The Arkansas Department of Agriculture is accepting proposals for its 2024 Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.
Donor Name: Arkansas Department of Agriculture
State: Arkansas
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 03/01/2024
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 2 Years
Details:
The purpose of the SCBGP is to provide funding for projects that enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops in Arkansas. The project proposal must focus on research, education, or marketing and benefit the specialty crop industry. Specialty crops are fruits and vegetables, dried fruit, tree nuts, horticulture, and nursery crops (including floriculture).
Focus Areas
The following have been identified as funding priorities for the SCBGP for Arkansas:
- 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
- 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
Funding Information
- The Department will accept project proposals that request at a minimum of $20,000.
- All projects granted funding can start no earlier than October 1, 2024 and must end no later than September 20, 2026.
Eligibility Criteria
- Project proposals will be accepted from Arkansas’s state and local government entities, colleges and universities, 501(c)3 non-profit organizations, producer associations, industry or community-based groups, and other specialty crop organizations.
- Applicants may submit more than one proposal. If more than one proposal is submitted, please indicate the priority level of each submission.
- Single organizations, institutions, and individuals are encouraged to participate as project partners but are not eligible to apply as the lead of the project. Applications for grant funds should describe how the project potentially affects 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 solely benefit a particular commercial product or provide a profit to a single organization, institution, or individual. In addition, recipients and subrecipients cannot use grant funds 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.
For more information, visit Arkansas Department of Agriculture.