Maryland Announces Grant Awardees for Specialty Crops

ANNAPOLIS, MD (Oct. 11, 2011) – The Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) today announced winners of $ 420,123 in grants that will enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops in Maryland. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant Program was authorized under the Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act of 2004, and amended under the 2008 Farm Bill.   Funding is expected to be made available to MDA for the specialty crop block grants through 2012.

“We are pleased to announce awardees of the Maryland Specialty Crop Block Grant Program. The 2008 Farm Bill provided significant grant funding dedicated to specialty crops to become available,” said Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance. “These funds are a great opportunity to help farmers and value-added producers advance and promote local specialty crops in the marketplace, spark new markets, job creation and help keep Maryland smart, green and growing.”

The following is a snapshot of the eight selected projects:

Crossroads Farmers Market – to provide additional access to fresh fruits and vegetables to low income families; provide additional revenue for farmers by accessing new customers; and provide fresh fruits and vegetables to neighborhoods with limited availability of locally grown produce,

Maryland Christmas Tree Association – to increase customer traffic at the Christmas tree farms and deliver increased sales of real Christmas trees in Maryland to support the over 200 real Christmas tree farms across the state.

University of Maryland – to provide a basis for an efficient monitoring program and cost-effective, environmentally-acceptable management strategies of the Brown Marmorated Stick Bug to control costs and crop losses and protect the value of sweet corn sales.

Maryland Department of Agriculture

• Continue to reinforce that preference for local through effective, timely advertising, promotional events and marketing of Maryland’s Best will strengthen consumer awareness of local specialty crops in Maryland and connect specialty crop farmers with markets.
• Partner with the Delaware Department of Agriculture and the Mar-Del Watermelon Association to develop the market for Maryland and Delaware watermelons in New England. By working together, Maryland and Delaware will combine scarce state resources with federal resources to establish a marketing program in order to increase sales of watermelons.
• Continue to offer technical assistance through Food Quality Assurance training programs and one to one assistance to producers developing Good Agricultural Practices programs, increase the number of producers participating in the Maryland Good Agricultural Practices program and continue offering economic assistance to producers implementing Good Agricultural Practices programs.
• Continue to implement the Maryland Farm to School educational and promotional programs to increase student awareness and consumption of Maryland grown fruits and vegetables and promote partnerships involving local businesses, parents, and other interested citizens.

Specialty crops are defined as fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture, and nursery crops.
MDA created a competitive grant process with a review committee to award these federal funds in 2009. Funding priorities, identified by Maryland specialty crop producers, included: marketing with Maryland’s Best, food safety, and Specialty Crop Distribution Chain.

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