Specialty Block Grant Recipients for Missouri

The Missouri Department of Agriculture offers Specialty Block Grants once a year.  This year 14 proposals were awarded with the total amount of all proposals coming to $350,925.40.  These grant are not for individuals but rather for "groups" of farmers.  Here are the 14 projects that were awarded.

• Partner with Cultivate Kansas City to support an outreach team for the Get Growing Kansas City project that is comprised of eight people with a comprehensive skill set relative to growing, marketing, and distributing locally produced specialty crops. Project staff will use internal controls to ensure that SCBGP-FB funds solely enhance the competitiveness of eligible specialty crops.

• Partner with the Missouri River Bluffs Association to encourage more producers to grow food in the five county Missouri River Bluffs Association region and encourage more customers to buy locally grown food through the implementation of a marketing campaign for locally grown food, development of a regional local food database, and facilitation of educational events at a farmers’ market. SCBGP-FB funds will not be used to invite, register, or promote products that are not defined as specialty crops.
 

• Partner with the Missouri Wine and Grape Board to continue to increase winery tourism and wine sales by maintaining the Missouri Passport Program for another year.
 

• Partner with the Menorah Legacy Foundation to expand a mobile market campaign which makes fresh, locally grown food available and affordable for low-income persons living in urban “food deserts” without access to grocery stores or farmers’ markets. Matching funds will be utilized to cover expenditures for non-specialty crop commodities.
 

• Partner with the Western Nursery and Landscape Association to facilitate an educational program for Missouri nursery crop growers to help them meet the requirements set forth by the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES) for sustainable plant production.
 

• Partner with the St. Patrick Center to conduct an urban agriculture educational program, which will increase the horticulture skills of the Center’s clients.
 

• Partner with Saint Louis University to establish a teaching orchard with emphasis on organic growing techniques, which will be utilized to host workshops and discussions with community members, teachers, and other interested stakeholders.
 

• Partner with In2Action to increase local production, accessibility, and awareness of honey through the development of a sustainable test-model and educate low-income families about the nutritional, health, and medicinal benefits associated with honey consumption.
 

• Partner with the Webb City Farmers’ Market to provide a conference that includes in-depth presentations and tours that cover issues of interest to specialty crop growers (both current and prospective), marketers, and consumers.
 

• Partner with EarthDance to increase low-income and minority individuals’ knowledge of specialty crop sustainable agriculture opportunities and benefits through the continued implementation and expansion of an organic farming apprenticeship program and facilitation of food safety workshops for area specialty crop farmers.
 

• Partner with the University of Missouri to determine the nitrogen needed to maximize yields and enhance profitability of chestnut production while avoiding the potential for contaminating of groundwater aquifers.
 

• Partner with Missouri State University to provide molecular genetic support to expedite a Norton grape breeding effort with the ultimate goal of improving viticultural performance and enological quality of new grape varieties well adapted to Missouri conditions.
 

• Partner with Lincoln University to develop organic management options for Japanese Beetle, Popillia japonica, and deploy monitoring systems for the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, Halyomorpha halys, and Spotted Wing Drosophila, Drosophila suzukii.
 

• Perform pre-award and post-award activities to administer Specialty Crop Block Grant Program funding and ensure that the State Agency and sub-awardees abide by Federal and State requirements and regulations.