Submission process
You can register through the free System Award Management (SAM) site.
You can register through the free System Award Management (SAM) site.
Our online application portal uses character limits. We estimate 3,000 characters is equal to a page. The character limits are listed below the text box of each narrative in the online application. Spaces DO count towards the character limit.
Our online application portal uses character limits. We estimate 3,000 characters is equal to a page. The character limits are listed below the text box of each narrative in the online application. Spaces DO count towards the character limit.
The USDA is looking for descriptions of all support that your proposed project has from specialty crop stakeholders, including farmers and farmer organizations. Describe the specialty crop producers/farmers, producer organizations, processors and/or distributors that support this project and why each support it. If a stakeholder has provided (verbal or written) some level of support to you or a collaborator or partner, you may include those specifics in this narrative.
A thorough description of the involvement of each stakeholder in your project in the narrative box of the application is important.
The letters of support from stakeholders are not required to be submitted with your application. However, including one or more letters by stakeholders may strengthen your proposal by enabling reviewers to better gauge the level of support for your application. If your SCBG proposal is accepted by the MDA for inclusion as a project in the MDA’s SCBG application to the USDA, the stakeholder support letters will not be included or attached to the MDA’s application.
The USDA is looking for descriptions of all support that your proposed project has from specialty crop stakeholders, including farmers and farmer organizations. Describe the specialty crop producers/farmers, producer organizations, processors and/or distributors that support this project and why each support it. If a stakeholder has provided (verbal or written) some level of support to you or a collaborator or partner, you may include those specifics in this narrative.
A thorough description of the involvement of each stakeholder in your project in the narrative box of the application is important.
The letters of support from stakeholders are not required to be submitted with your application. However, including one or more letters by stakeholders may strengthen your proposal by enabling reviewers to better gauge the level of support for your application. If your SCBG proposal is accepted by the MDA for inclusion as a project in the MDA’s SCBG application to the USDA, the stakeholder support letters will not be included or attached to the MDA’s application.
Stakeholders in the project are not necessarily beneficiaries of the project. A beneficiary is an entity that stands to benefit from the performance of the grant project activities. Examples of SCBG project beneficiaries are the attendees of a grant funded workshop who learn how to write a food safety plan; growers who learn how to detect and control a common plant disease by attending a conference presentation; or children who learn about growing, preparing, and eating specialty crops in a school program.
Stakeholders can be growers, grower-level groups, processors, and distributors that support the project by standing to benefit from it, or that are assisting the applicant/grantee set priorities, review and comment on the project, or implement the project. For the purposes of this grant, stakeholders are not the project partners or collaborators who are listed in the application.
Stakeholders in the project are not necessarily beneficiaries of the project. A beneficiary is an entity that stands to benefit from the performance of the grant project activities. Examples of SCBG project beneficiaries are the attendees of a grant funded workshop who learn how to write a food safety plan; growers who learn how to detect and control a common plant disease by attending a conference presentation; or children who learn about growing, preparing, and eating specialty crops in a school program.
Stakeholders can be growers, grower-level groups, processors, and distributors that support the project by standing to benefit from it, or that are assisting the applicant/grantee set priorities, review and comment on the project, or implement the project. For the purposes of this grant, stakeholders are not the project partners or collaborators who are listed in the application.
We prefer a two-word descriptor of each beneficiary. A more detailed explanation of benefit to underserved and beginning farmers may be needed if that is a focus of your project and you do not provide support for this statement in other parts of your application.