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Today, The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) rolled out additional information regarding the Marketing Assistance for Specialty Crops (MASC) program; which offers $2 Billion in funding to help specialty crop producers expand markets and manage higher costs, including labor.
Applications will open tomorrow, Dec. 10, 2024, and the deadline to apply is Jan. 8, 2025.
Funded by the Commodity Credit Corporation, MASC was announced in November alongside the $140 million Commodity Storage Assistance Program for facilities impacted by 2024 natural disasters.
MASC helps specialty crop producers (including winegrape growers) meet higher marketing costs related to:
- Perishability of specialty crops like fruits, vegetables, floriculture, nursey crops and herbs;
- Specialized handling and transport equipment with temperature and humidity control;
- Packaging to prevent damage;
- Moving perishables to market quickly; and
- Higher labor costs.
MASC ELIGIBILITY
To be eligible for MASC, a producer must be in business at the time of application, maintain an ownership share and share in the risk of producing a specialty crop that will be sold in calendar year 2025.
MASC covers the following commercially marketed specialty crops:
- Fruits (fresh, dried);
- Vegetables (including dry edible beans and peas, mushrooms, and vegetable seed);
- Tree nuts;
- Nursery crops, Christmas trees, and floriculture;
- Culinary and medicinal herbs and spices; and
- Honey, hops, maple sap, tea, turfgrass and grass seed.
To qualify, growers must have an Adjusted Gross Income limitation of $900,000 or below unless 75 percent of your income is from agriculture in which case the income limitation is waived. FSA will issue MASC payments after the end of the application period. If demand for MASC payments exceeds available funding, MASC payments may be prorated, and the payment limitation of $125,000 may be lowered. If additional funding is available after MASC payments are issued, FSA may issue an additional payment.
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