Specialty Crop Multi-State Program

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Announcement

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is now accepting proposals for the 2023 Specialty Crop Multi-State Program (SCMP).

About The Program

The SCMP is a federal grant program offered by USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS). The purpose of the SCMP is to competitively award funds to projects that enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops by funding collaborative, multi-state projects that address regional or national level specialty crop issues, including food safety, plant pests and disease, research, crop-specific projects addressing common issues, and marketing and promotion. Specialty crops include fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture, and nursery crops (including floriculture). All prospective applicants are encouraged to review the 2023 SCMP Request for Applications on the USDA, AMS website.

Funding And Duration

Grant awards will range from $250,000 to $1 million per project and projects may last for up to three years.

Eligibility And Exclusions

Specialty crop producer associations and groups, other state agencies, Tribal government entities, universities, nonprofits, and other stakeholder groups and organizations are eligible to apply. All SCMP proposals must include at least two organizations (referred to as "multi-state partners") with substantive involvement in the project, and the multi-state partners must be located in two different states to qualify for the program.

Grant Proposal Submision

The deadline to submit SCMP proposals to California is 1:59 pm PDT on December 22, 2023. Proposals must be submitted electronically to grants@cdfa.ca.gov. Late submissions will not be accepted. Applications must be submitted in one email and contain all of the elements on the 2023 SCMP Application Checklist. Additional information on the application requirements can be found on the SCMP Application Instructions.

Grant Proposal Instructions And Templates

The templates were developed to assist multi-state partners to meet the requirements of the SCMP Request for Applications. These templates are mandatory.

Webinar

CDFA will conduct a webinar on Wednesday, October 25, 2023, at 10:00 am PDT featuring an overview of the proposal application. There is no cost to attend; however, space is limited and CDFA requests that attendees register in advance.

Questions

A list of FAQs is located here: 2023 SCMP Frequently Asked Questions.

Prospective applicants may contact CDFA's Office of Grants Administration at grants@cdfa.ca.gov for additional information. Please stipulate in the subject line that your question is specific to the SCMP program.