FDACS has established funding priorities for the SCBGP for the State of Florida, including:

• Projects to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus inputs required for specialty crop production, or to prevent or reduce leaching/runoff of these nutrients into groundwater or surface waterways.
• Projects to reduce water use, improve irrigation efficiency, or otherwise decrease the impact of agricultural water use in specialty crop production.
• Projects to research, encourage, or educate producers and consumers on advanced specialty crop production technologies such as hydroponics, aquaponics, aeroponics, protected culture or controlled environment production, and others.

USDA-AMS encourages states to develop projects which benefit the specialty crop industry in one or more of the following ways:

• Enhance food safety
• Improve the capacity of all entities in the specialty crop distribution chain to comply with the requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act (21 U.S.C. Chapter 27), for example, developing Good Agricultural Practices, Good Handling Practices, Good Manufacturing Practices, and in cost-share arrangements for funding audits of such systems (including USDA GroupGAP) for small farmers, packers, and processors
• Invest in specialty crop research, including research to focus on conservation and environmental outcomes
• Develop new and improved seed varieties and specialty crops
• Enhance pest and plant disease control
• Increase child and adult nutrition knowledge and consumption of specialty crops
• Improve efficiency and reduce costs of distribution systems
• Enhance sustainability

Examples of Acceptable Projects:

• Researching new cultivars
• Providing outreach opportunities on specialty crops to youth, families, seniors, and the overall community
• Marketing apples through a targeted promotional campaign.

• Others (see text field entitled "Additional Eligibility Criteria" for clarification)

Estimated Total Program Funding: