Write your own grant and take advantage of the resources found in your department. This session describes how Mississippi State University’s Office of Agricultural Communications was awarded a $33,000 USDA specialty crops grant that promoted farmers’ markets throughout Mississippi using their own writers, videographers, artists, photographers, web and broadcasting personnel.

1. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program
Write a Grant
That’s Perfect for Your
Communications Department
Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

2. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program
What is a specialty crop?
•Fruits (cultivated, not wild)
•Vegetables (not row crops)
•Tree nuts
•Dried fruits
•Horticulture (aesthetics, food, medicine)
Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

3. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program
Purpose of USDA program:
Help farmers who raise fruits,
vegetables, and nuts with improved
training, infrastructure, and marketing
Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

4. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program
Background:
•USDA grant since 2004
•Part of Farm Bill since 2008
•Each state receives $100,000 and additional
funding based upon acreage and population
•$118 million awarded in 2014 for 839 projects
Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

5. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program
Eligible applicants:
•Producer associations
•State and local organizations
•Academia
Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

6. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program
Eligible projects:
Projects must solely enhance the
competitiveness of your state’s specialty
crops. They cannot profit single organizations,
institutions, or individuals.
Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

7. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program
Grant priority areas:
•Research
•Education/training
•Marketing/promotion
•Food safety/handling
Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

8. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program
In other words:
USDA gives millions of dollars in block grants
to each state’s department of agriculture to
re-grant for projects that help sell specialty
crops in your state provided you are a non-
profit working to help growers.
Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

9. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program
How we defined the problem:
More than 98 percent of Mississippi farms
are locally owned.
Specialty crops represent only 2 percent of
the state’s total agricultural production.
Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

10. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program
Our grant title:
Using Specialty Crops
to Develop and Promote
Farmers’ Markets in Mississippi
Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

11. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program
Three-part solution:
Use specialty crops as the focal point to
build awareness among
1. consumers
2. growers and producers
3. community leaders
about participation in farmers’ markets.
Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

12. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program
1. Consumers:
Use media to promote farmers’ markets:
• Freshness
• Quality
• Health benefits
Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

13. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program
2. Growers and Producers:
Growers’ conference to educate about markets:
• Profitability of growing and selling
• Advice from Extension personnel
• Chance to invite government and community
personnel
Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

14. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program
3. Community and municipal leaders:
Use media to educate and promote:
• Economic advantages to communities hosting
farmers’ markets
Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

15. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program
Partnership:
Asked an Extension horticulturist to co-PI:
•Organize a growers’ conference
•Publish new publications as needed
•Lend his PhD to the grant application for
its educational value
•Fulfill the education priority of the grant
Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

16. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program
Budget:
Our department’s usual charge of $50 per
hour was acceptable in the USDA formula
for hourly wages.
Next, we simply had to plan the services and
estimate the time it would take.
Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

17. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program
Website and social media:
$5,000
•http://farmersmarkets.msstate.edu
•Facebook
•Twitter
•Extension YouTube
Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

18. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program
Television PSAs:
$10,475 Aired on Farmweek
DVDs sent to state TV stations
•https://youtu.be/ie_5QR0FjnQ
•https://youtu.be/AVL_syi0yiE
•https://youtu.be/Y0Fn56mklLY
Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

19. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

20. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

21. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

22. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program
Growers’ conference:
$8,471
•Two-day conference
•100 participants
•Fit the education
priority
Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

23. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program
Publications:
$4,933
•Growers’ conference
promotional brochure
•Tri-fold general
use brochure
•Extension pub
Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

24. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program
Total Services:
•$8,471 Television public service announcements
•$5,000 Website and social media
•$4,933 Publications – writing, editing, art, and printing
•$1,580 Radio shows/public service announcements
•$700 News releases and features
•$525 Photography
•$10,475 Microfarming growers’ conference
Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

25. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program
Grant Application:
•$33,285 total proposal
Billed quarterly or as each service is rendered
•December 2013–May 2015 timeline
Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

26. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program
Measurable Outcomes:
•10 percent increase in number of state farmers’
markets
•Double website traffic with new site compared
to existing Extension pages
•10 percent increase in specialty crop growers of
those attending growers’ conference
Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

27. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program
Find your state program:
www.usda.gov --> search for “specialty crop grant”
Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program

28. Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program
Questions?
Rick Noffsinger
Office of Agricultural Communications
(662) 325-9270
rick.noffsinger@msstate.edu
Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program