MDARD Director Reminds Specialty Crop Producers to Apply for USDA Marketing Assistance Funding

By Jennifer Holton

Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) Director Tim Boring today reminded Michigan’s specialty crop producers to apply by January 8, 2025, for the new United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Marketing Assistance for Specialty Crops (MASC) program at their county USDA Farm Service Agency office. Michigan producers will receive at least $78 million in assistance as part of the $2 billion program that helps specialty crop growers maintain strong domestic supply and expand market opportunities.

“MASC comes at a critical time for Michigan’s specialty crop industry, providing needed support to boost the competitiveness of Michigan producers as they face growing pressures from rising labor costs, challenging weather, and international markets,” said Boring. “I applaud USDA Secretary Vilsack and Senator Stabenow for their leadership implementing this program in response to these serious challenges for Michigan specialty crop producers.”

The MASC program helps specialty crop producers offset marketing costs related to tenderness and perishability of specialty crops, specialized handling and transport equipment with temperature and humidity controls, packaging to prevent damage, moving perishables more quickly, and higher labor costs. MASC covers commercially marketed specialty crops grown in the United States, including fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, nursery crops, Christmas trees, and floriculture, culinary and medicinal herbs and spices, and honey, hops, maple sap, tea, turfgrass, and grass seed.

Eligible producers for the MASC program must:

• Have an average adjusted gross income (AGI) of less than $900,000 for tax years, 2021, 2022, and 2023, unless the producer’s average adjusted gross farm income is at least 75 percent of their average AGI.
• Be in the business of producing a specialty crop at the time of application and be entitled to an ownership share and share in the risk of producing a specialty crop that will be sold in calendar year 2025.
• Be a U.S. citizen, resident alien, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, or other organizational structure organized under state law, Indian Tribe, or Tribal Organization, or a foreign person or foreign entity who meets certain eligibility requirements.
• Comply with the provisions of the “Highly Erodible Land and Wetland Conservation” regulations, often called the conservation compliance provisions.
• Not have a controlled substance violation.

The deadline to apply for the MASC program is January 8, 2025. For more information on the program requirements, visit the USDA website.