CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE NOW ACCEPTING PROPOSALS FOR 2017 SPECIALTY CROP MULTI-STATE PROGRAM

SACRAMENTO, July 10, 2017 - The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is now accepting proposals for the 2017 Specialty Crop Multi-State Program (SCMP). The SCMP is a federal grant program offered by USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service. The purpose of the SCMP is to competitively award funds to projects that solely 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). Review the 2017SCMP Request for Applications for detailed application instructions.

Grant awards will range from $250,000 to $1 million per project and projects may last for up to three years. Specialty crop producer associations and groups, state government agencies, Tribal government entities, universities, nonprofits, and other stakeholder organizations are all eligible to apply. All SCMP proposals must include at least two partners (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. The deadline to submit SCMP proposals to California is 1:59 p.m. PST on September 25, 2017. Proposals must be submitted electronically to grants@cdfa.ca.gov.

All questions regarding the SCMP should be emailed to grants@cdfa.ca.gov.