The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) administers programs that create domestic and international marketing opportunities for U.S. producers of food, fiber, and specialty crops.
The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service's Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP) for fiscal year 2024 focuses on enhancing the competitiveness of specialty crops. This initiative supports eligible State departments of agriculture with grants to fund projects that aim to increase the marketability and accessibility of specialty crops. The SCBGP's main objectives include marketing and promoting specialty crops, supporting research and development that benefits these crops, expanding their availability and access, and addressing challenges faced by specialty crop producers at local, regional, and national levels. Specialty crops encompass fruits and vegetables, dried fruits, tree nuts, horticulture, and nursery crops, including floriculture. This program is designed to aid State departments of agriculture across the 50 States, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.