WSDA Announces Millions For Specialty Crop Growers

The Washington state Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday the availability of $10 million in federal grants for the specialty crop industry. The WSDA is now accepting applications from Washington-based operations that are the lead on projects with multiple state partners for the 2021 Specialty Crop Multi-State Program (SCMP).

The goal of these grants, according to the Department of Agriculture is to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops by funding collaborative, multi-state projects that address regional or national level issues. Those issues can include: food safety; plant pests and disease; research; crop-specific projects addressing common issues; and marketing and promotion.

The SCMP is a federal grant program offered by AMS. Specialty crops include fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture, and nursery crops (including floriculture). All prospective applicants are encouraged to review the 2021 SCMP Request for Applications on the USDA, AMS website.  Any applicants applying to WSDA’s Specialty Crop Multi-State Program should use WSDA’s templates, all of which are located on WSDA’s SCMP website.

Grant awards will range from $250,000 to $1 million per project and projects may last up to three years. 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 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 is November 4, 2021. Proposals must be submitted electronically via E-mail.

Visit WSDA's Website for more information about the 2021 Specialty Crop Multi-State Program.

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