The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) administers the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP) through a competitive, multi-phase annual funding process to enhance the competitiveness of California’s specialty crops. Specialty crops include fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture, and nursery crops including floriculture. This program is funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act of 2004, with CFDA listing number 10.170. CDFA expects to award up to $23 million in 2026 to support projects that promote the specialty crop sector within local, domestic, national, or international markets. Grant awards range from $100,000 to $500,000 with a maximum duration of two years and eight months. Projects cannot begin before November 1, 2026, or extend past June 30, 2029.
The SCBGP supports a wide range of initiatives through three funding areas: Market Enhancement, Access/Education/Training, and Research. Market Enhancement projects focus on increasing demand, availability, and visibility of California specialty crops. The Access, Education, and Training area emphasizes nutritional education, increasing accessibility to healthy foods, and equipping producers with tools to adapt to agricultural challenges. The Research category funds applied research in environmental stewardship, conservation, pest management, and sustainable farming practices. All projects must demonstrate direct benefit to the broader specialty crop industry rather than to a single entity or business.
Eligible applicants include nonprofit and for-profit organizations, local, state, federal, and Tribal government entities (federally and non-federally recognized), and public or private institutions of higher education. Individuals are not eligible to apply. CDFA imposes strict requirements that prevent the use of funds for projects that offer unfair competitive advantage, directly support an individual business, or focus on non-specialty crops. Applicants may submit multiple Concept Proposals, provided each represents a distinct project.
The application process begins with the submission of a Concept Proposal through the Financial Assistance Application Submittal Tool (FAAST). The concept phase opens on August 15, 2025, and closes at 5:00 p.m. PT on September 11, 2025. Webinars and office hours for technical guidance will be held between August 20 and September 3, 2025. Selected applicants will be invited in December 2025 to submit full Grant Proposals, due January 2026. Awards are expected to be announced in Fall 2026. Application requirements include budget details, outcome measures, sustainability plans, outreach strategies, and responses to program-specific priorities. The maximum indirect cost allowed is 8% of total personnel costs.
To assist new or limited-resource applicants, CDFA will also release a separate funding track in November 2025 called the “Additional Assistance for Limited Resource Applicants Program.” This is designed to help organizations with little prior grant experience access one-on-one support and submit competitive applications.
Questions about the program may be directed to CDFA’s Office of Grants Administration at grants@cdfa.ca.gov or by phone at (916) 657-3231. All applicants are encouraged to attend the scheduled webinars and review the posted Frequently Asked Questions. Program documentation, including budget templates, outcome measures forms, and eligibility guidelines, is available on the CDFA SCBGP website.
