2/6/2012
The West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA) has announced publication of its Request for Proposals for the Specialty Crop Block Grant (SCBG) Program. Over the past five years, WVDA has distributed approximately $1.2 million in funding to 151 projects throughout the state through a competitive grant awards program. The SCBG is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and administered by the WVDA. Funding for 2012 is expected to be approximately $170,000.
The grant program encourages cooperative efforts to integrate technology at the farm level, improve marketing and promotion of locally-grown specialty crops, and increase production efficiency through research projects. Specialty crops include fruits, vegetables, herbs, horticulture goods, nursery stock and value-added products. Projects that encourage youth agriculture entrepreneurship, beginning/young farmer initiatives and farm to school concepts are also encouraged.
“The diversity of projects and the issues that have been addressed throughout the state in the last five years have stressed the importance of specialty crops in West Virginia,” said Commissioner of Agriculture Gus R. Douglass. “We have funded research work in fruit pest issues, marketing programs for startup and expanding farmers’ markets focusing on specialty crop sales, youth projects with research and marketing components, expanded the agriculture and garden curriculums in three county schools, and increased awareness of West Virginia value-added specialty crops in regional marketplaces.”
Program guidelines and applicant materials are posted on the WVDA website
www.wvagriculture.org. WVDA staff will be available to discuss specific projects and answer questions about the program during the 2012 Agritourism Workshop (February 29) and the 2012 Small Farm Conference (March 1-3), held in Morgantown, W.Va. Deadline for application is Friday, March 16, 2012.
For a hard copy of the application form and additional program information, contact Marketing Specialist Melissa Hudson at 304-558-2210 or
mhudson@wvda.us.
Contact Information
Melissa Hudson
304-558-2210
mhudson@wvda.us