Hoeven: USDA Announces $96 Million in Available Funding to Support Local Food, Specialty Crops and Farm to School Efforts

Press Release

Senator John Hoeven, who serves on the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has made almost $96 million available for innovative agricultural projects that will help Americans gain better access to healthy, nutritious food.

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) administered the grants, which include the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP), the Federal-State Marketing Improvement Program (FSMIP) and the Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Program (LFPP). The USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Farm to School Program grants, also included in the announcement, are designed to help qualified entities implement farm to school programs that improve access to local foods in eligible schools.

"Today, there is a high demand for fresh, healthy food," Hoeven said. "These grants will help our nation's food producers expand their market opportunities, and also help families and schools have better access to nutritious food."

The SCBGP grants are distributed to states and territories based on a formula that takes into account both specialty crop acreage and production value. These grants reflect just one of the ways Senator Hoeven is working to make sure the farm bill helps to advance the good work of North Dakota's producers. Last spring, Hoeven announced that USDA had awarded grant funding to the North Dakota Department of Agriculture through SCBGP that was reauthorized in the 2014 farm bill.

Interested SCBGP applicants should apply through their State department of agriculture. State contacts and application due dates can be found here.

The FSMIP funds will support research projects that aim to address challenges and opportunities in marketing, transporting and distributing U.S. agricultural products domestically and internationally.

The Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Program will divide funding equally between its two grant programs: the FMPP, which supports direct farmer-to-consumer marketing projects, e.g. farmers markets, community-supported agriculture programs, agritourism, while the LFPP funds projects that support intermediary supply chain activities for food products.

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