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USDA ANNOUNCES MARKETING ASSISTANCE PROGRAM FOR SMALL SPECIALTY CROP GROWERS
Dec. 10, 2024
Agri-Pulse reports:
Specialty crop growers struggling with high labor and input costs, and lower cash receipts can start applying to USDA to recoup some of their marketing expenses.
The application window for the Marketing Assistance for Specialty Crops program, or MASC, starts today and ends Jan. 8.
Except for new producers, payments will be based on a producer's sales in 2023 or 2024.
In its Federal Register notice today announcing the program's details, the Farm Service Agency says specialty crop growers "face labor costs that are nearly 45% of total variable costs -- far higher than the 9% percent average across all the agricultural sector."
As an example of the challenges facing these producers, FSA notes cash receipts for fruit and nut growers in calendar year 2024 are 25% below the previous inflation-adjusted 10-year average -- a greater reduction over that 10-year period than for any commodity grouping other than tobacco."
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