1
Transportation and Marketing
Specialty Crop Block Grant Program
Fiscal Year 2018 Description of Funded Projects
Number of Grants Awarded: 56
Number of Sub-award Project: 788
Amount of Funds Awarded: $72,157,417.86
For more information, please visit the program’s website: https://www.ams.usda.gov/scbpg
NOTE: The project descriptions below were provided by the grant recipients. (File updated September 24, 2018)
Organization Amount Funded to Organization Project Title Description
Project
Budget
Alabama
Department of
Agriculture and
Industries
$494,794.76
Reducing Production Cost in
Christmas Tree Production
Through Improved Fertilizer
Practices
Auburn University and Alabama Cooperative Extension Service will
conduct a series of research trials to update fertilizer and lime
recommendations for Alabama Christmas tree growers. Current
recommendations are severely outdated. Recommendations
generated through this project will be included in Extension
publications to highlight best management practices for Christmas tree
fertilization. Through this project, production cost will be reduced by
mitigating risks associated with over- or under- applying fertilizer. This
data will also assist new growers entering the industry with
management decisions.
$25,000.00
Alabama
Department of
Agriculture and
Industries
$494,794.76 Alabama Specialty Crops in Grocery Retailers
The Food Bank of North Alabama / Farm Food Collaborative will
expand consumer access to and consumption of locally grown
specialty crops by maintaining grocery retailers’ vendor insurance
requirements and facilitating cold-chain deliveries from multiple North
Alabama farms to local grocery stores while raising the public’s
awareness of the economic and environmental benefits of buying
local.
$24,989.00
https://www.ams.usda.gov/scbpg
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Organization Amount Funded to Organization Project Title Description
Project
Budget
Alabama
Department of
Agriculture and
Industries
$494,794.76
Alabama Pecan Growers
associations Farmer
Educational Meetings &
Summer Tour
The Alabama Pecan Growers Association will conduct farmer
education efforts designed to offer new and beginner farmers the
tools needed for successful farming. Farmers will hear from pecan
specialists talking about what is new and improved in the pecan
industry as well as good orchard management practices. Meetings and
a tour will provide farmers with information on the pecan industry
background and its regulatory requirements, recommended cultivars,
promotion of Best Management Practices (BMP) in pesticide
application, storage and others, as well as identifying opportunities for
energy savings that will provide cost savings to the farmers. By
cultivating and educating farmers and creating robust consumer
demand for pecans through marketing and educational initiatives, this
will positively impact the pecan industry in Alabama. In addition, these
gatherings will enhance pecan growers to gather, talk, share ideas, and
listen to the latest pecan production research. In the pecan industry
information about growing, and improving production is always
changing. These annual meetings are our way of providing pecan
growers with the most up to date information and technology for
growing pecans.
$25,000.00
Alabama
Department of
Agriculture and
Industries
$494,794.76
Enhancing the
Competitiveness of Apple
Production in Alabama
Through Improved Disease
Resistant Varieties and
Innovative Production
Systems
Auburn University will partner with the ADAI to enhance the
competitiveness of apple production in Alabama through investigating
the performance of improved disease resistant apple rootstock
varieties. Experimental trees will be cultivated under highly efficient
Tall Spindle production system. The outcomes will lead to sustainable
apple production practices resulting in reduced inputs, increased yield,
increased efficiency, improved fruit quality and increased economic
return to the grower, and contribute to conservation of natural
resources, improved food safety and increased consumption of
specialty crops. Results will be disseminated to stakeholders through
grower meetings, field days, printed materials and web outlets.
$25,000.00
3
Organization Amount Funded to Organization Project Title Description
Project
Budget
Alabama
Department of
Agriculture and
Industries
$494,794.76
Establishment of a
Demonstrative Teaching
Garden and Shade House on
Campus at Alabama State
University
Alabama State University (ASU) will establish a demonstrative teaching
garden and shade house on campus that will serve to introduce our
students (undergraduate and graduate) as well as members of the
local community to the nutritional health benefits and advantages of
growing and consuming locally grown specialty fruits and vegetables.
We will also conduct an educational workshop and field tour at ASU
that will introduce our target audience to the benefits of consuming a
diet that is rich in specialty crops. We will work with a registered
dietician to educate these groups on choice and portion servings based
on nutritional content and other factors that they should be
considering when making meal choices. The workshop and field tour
will also be a means to educate our audience on entomological
diversity and sustainable agriculture production practices.
$25,000.00
Alabama
Department of
Agriculture and
Industries
$494,794.76
Enhancement of Strawberry
Production using Microbial
Symbionts
The use of endophytic symbionts is an effective and appropriate
alternative to sustain and improve crop yield without damaging the
environment or human well-being. The specific objective of this
project is to explore the role of beneficial fungal endophytes in
improving strawberry production. Specifically, we will test 20 fungal
endophytes isolated from naturally growing plants of different
Alabama habitats for their ability to enhance strawberry production
under greenhouse conditions. The outcomes of the project include
identification of 4-6 beneficial symbionts that can improve strawberry
production by 10-25% under greenhouse conditions compared to the
non-symbiotic strawberry plants. The research finding is an essential
step in developing bio-fertilizers or new improved seed varieties of
strawberry and other specialty crops growing in Alabama.
$24,975.50
4
Organization Amount Funded to Organization Project Title Description
Project
Budget
Alabama
Department of
Agriculture and
Industries
$494,794.76
Postharvest Interventions to
Improve Quality and
Microbial Safety of
Microgreens
The University of Alabama and the University of West Alabama will
establish a partnership to optimize postharvest storage and
transportation techniques to improve the nutritional and sensorial
quality, shelf life, and microbial food safety of microgreens grown in
Alabama. We will evaluate a variety of microgreens, including red
amaranth, fenugreek, cress, broccoli, and daikon radish, by ranking
their best storage temperatures. We will also study the use of different
sanitizers before storage and transportation. The evaluation will be
based on their nutritional quality, sensorial quality, and microbial
safety, especially possible pathogenic bacterial contamination, during
storage and transportation, with and without interventions.
$20,690.00
Alabama
Department of
Agriculture and
Industries
$494,794.76
Educating our Community
one specialty crop at a time
- phase 2
Victory Teaching Farm will work to enhance the competitiveness of
specialty crops through an increase in access, and consumption via the
addition of a new production component at the farm consisting of
microgreen specialty crops and through the addition of this
component to our community education programming. We will also
increase the consumption of specialty crops through increased
production and distribution and increase knowledge base of Alabama
specialty crops through assistance to chefs, markets and grocers that
distribute, utilize and sell Alabama Specialty crops provided by Victory
Teaching Farm.
$25,000.00
Alabama
Department of
Agriculture and
Industries
$494,794.76
Rising Up and Raising
Healthy Community
Gardens and Gardeners
Through Hands and Minds
on Learning Focused on
Specialty Crops
In service to the community, Talladega College and the Talladega
County Cooperative Extension Service affiliated with the Alabama
Cooperative Extension Service are partnering to create an outdoor
learning center/garden that also includes an indoor campus classroom.
The project title, Rising Up and Raising Healthy Community Gardens
and Gardeners Through Hands and Minds on Learning Focused on
Specialty Crops is based on community autonomy and the need to
bring action to the challenge of having one in three children in the
United States either overweight or obese and the fact that Alabama
has the third highest adult obesity rate in the nation. Our concept of
community autonomy is a group coming together to take decisive
action around an agreed upon sustainable effort, which is growing and
preparing specialty crops.
$24,864.87
5
Organization Amount Funded to Organization Project Title Description
Project
Budget
Alabama
Department of
Agriculture and
Industries
$494,794.76 Alabama Specialty Crops for School Gardens
Schoolyard Roots (SYR), formerly Druid City Garden Project, is a
501(c)3 nonprofit founded in 2010 in response to increasing rates of
childhood obesity and a lack of healthy eating instruction in Alabama.
We bring garden-based instruction to elementary schools. This is done
by combining hands-on science and math lessons with Alabama Course
of Study standards to meet the challenges in Alabama public schools.
In our core program Gardens 2 Schools (G2S), our teaching gardens
and innovative curriculum have been shown to increase consumption
of fruits and vegetables, increase academic achievement, and get
children excited about school. Our programs encourage
entrepreneurial skills, involve parents at school, encourage
environmental stewardship and sustainability, build positive character
development and leadership skills, and energize teachers.
Grant funds support our core ‘Gardens 2 Schools’ program in three
major ways: maintaining our partner elementary school teaching
gardens where we grow specialty crop and heritage seeds; the
addition of heritage seed-based lessons to our award-winning,
standards-based curriculum; and by providing support for our
educators and partner school teachers.
$25,000.00
Alabama
Department of
Agriculture and
Industries
$494,794.76
Trinity Gardens' Community
Gardens Provides Specialty
Crop to be Sold and Shared
among Residents
Bay Area Women Coalition, Inc. (BAWC) Community Gardens Project
provides an increase in production of fresh fruits, nuts and vegetables
to be sold and shared among residents living in the Trinity Gardens’
community. This project includes food security, reduction in disease
risk, cultural preservation, creates a webpage and sustains green
spaces. BAWC project provides each of the following: (1.) Food
security by increasing the production of “Specialty crop”; (2.)
Reduction in disease risk with access to nutritious fruits, vegetables
and nuts; (3.) Cultural preservation, opportunities for neighbors to
work together, (4.) Motivation to create and sustain green space which
eliminates blighted lots, and (5) Entrepreneurship opportunities
including selling the specialty crop and making a profit. Generating
income is essential to the survival of small and urban farmers.
$24,521.40
6
Organization Amount Funded to Organization Project Title Description
Project
Budget
Alabama
Department of
Agriculture and
Industries
$494,794.76
Increasing Farm to School
Connections in Baldwin
County Alabama
Local Appetite Growers, a small-scale vegetable grower in Silverhill
Alabama, will work with the Baldwin County Alabama Board of
Education and the Auburn University Extension to increase the use of
locally grown produce for the consumption in local schools. Also
Referred to as a ‘Farm to School’ program, this project aims to increase
the use of locally grown produce in the cafeterias of the local school
system. This project would approach this effort in 3 ways, 1.) Exposure
– by bringing school kids on tours to see the farm, to make them aware
of how and where their food is grown, 2.) Working with school
cafeteria staff to integrate locally grown produce into the menus of at
least one local school, as a model for other local schools, and 3.)
Acquiring GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) certification to help assure
all parents / school staff that their food is produced and handled in the
safest possible way. The goal is to make school aged children more
aware of where their food comes from and offering these local
products in their school cafeteria.
$21,645.00
Alabama
Department of
Agriculture and
Industries
$494,794.76 Farmers Possessing GAP/GHP Certification
The demand for fresh produce in the marketplace along with the
increase in local farmers markets has given Alabama farmers a
foothold, but they lack the scale and capital to compete with regional
and global wholesalers. Due to growing food safety concerns, many
large buyers in the marketplace such as grocery stores, wholesalers,
food service providers, schools, and other institutions require that all
growers from whom they make purchases possess Good Agricultural
Practices and/or Good Handling Practices (GAP/GHP) credentials. This
credential ensures stakeholders in the supply chain that the product
they are receiving is of a predetermined quality standard. The cost to
obtain and maintain this certification over time can provide a financial
burden on farmers and often hinders them from entering some
marketplaces. The Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries
(ADAI) would like to initiate a reimbursement cost-share program with
the goal of increasing the number of Alabama farmers with GAP/GHP
certification at 75% percent of certification costs or a maximum of
$500 to allow them to compete in these markets.
$25,000.00
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Organization Amount Funded to Organization Project Title Description
Project
Budget
Alabama
Department of
Agriculture and
Industries
$494,794.76 King's Garden community Education Garden
The growing demand for specialty crops in the central Alabama region
provides a need for increased sustainable, healthy, nutritious food
supply. The purpose of King’s Garden (KG) is to address this issue
through increased production of specialty crops. A key objective of KG
is operating a community vegetable stand and selling in local farmers’
markets to sell fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers. KG provides
opportunity, knowledge, and resources to at-risk populations
regarding increased production of specialty crops through hands-on
and classroom learning to residents and the community. KG currently
collaborates with Master Gardeners, Alabama Cooperative Extension
Service agents, and university researchers to advance its community
garden program. King’s Garden will use soil blocking to germinate
specialty crop seeds efficiently, implement use of a germination
chamber to prepare a greater number and variety of seedlings in all
seasons, utilize more manual pest control, and practice cover crops.
$25,000.00
Alabama
Department of
Agriculture and
Industries
$494,794.76 Cultivating the Next Generation of Aggies
Jackson Middle School (grades 6-8) will create an outdoor classroom
where students will engage in experiential, food-based education by
growing specialty crops in a variety of settings. The Alabama
Cooperative Extension System (ACES) will provide educational and
production support to the program. Our project will have several
garden and instructional areas that will provide varied teaching
opportunities for growing specialty crop fruits and vegetables. The
students will participate in the process of building, maintaining, and
marketing the multi-faceted sustainable food production system
reaching parents and the community, increasing access to and
awareness of many specialty crops. The crops will be produced in a
student-run greenhouse, with raised garden beds, and hydroponic
growing towers. The greenhouse will be the centerpiece of the system
and the main component of the first phase of the program. It will
provide specialty crop vegetable, herbaceous and flowering starts for
the various plots on campus and will provide bedding plants and
potted annuals that will be offered to the community in a spring plant
sale. Students will sell produce they have grown in the edible
schoolyard at a student run farm-stand and will donate a portion of
produce to a local non-profit organization.
$22,499.60
8
Organization Amount Funded to Organization Project Title Description
Project
Budget
Alabama
Department of
Agriculture and
Industries
$494,794.76
Provide Commercial Grade
Hygienic Facility for small
scale honey producers to
enhance food safety
The Baldwin County Beekeepers Association (BCBA) will develop better
processing practices, educate individual beekeepers in modern
techniques, and provides modern honey processing equipment in an
effort to help eliminate as much unwanted contaminates as possible
from the specialty finished product of local honey. We intend to utilize
requested funds to develop written process control practices for
honey processing, provide beekeeper classroom and hands on
education to support the process control practices developed, and
establish a Mobile Honey Processing Unit (MHPU) that will allow
individual beekeepers the ability to prepare, extract, and bottle their
honey in a clean, controlled environment. All these items combined
should meet our goal to enhance competitiveness of the honey crop
while enhancing food safety practices of the final local honey specialty
product.
$23,000.00
Alabama
Department of
Agriculture and
Industries
$494,794.76
Gardening for Justice:
Building Sustainable
Gardens in a Women's
Prison to Provide Access to
Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
Troy University will enhance consumption of and access to specialty
crops amongst the female inmate population at Tutwiler Detention
Facility through the development of a garden inside the prison. The
garden programing and the garden site itself will increase health and
nutrition knowledge of the participants. This project will also provide
female inmates with the opportunity to gain horticultural skills that
could be useful in gainful employment upon their release. We will
teach approximately 40 female inmates housed in the Honors Annex
how to set up and maintain a garden along with providing nutritional
education classes. All the crops grown will be used to Tutwiler’s
kitchen for inmate consumption. This program will also provide
inmates with the unique opportunity to develop horticultural skills that
otherwise would not be afforded to them through regular prison
programming while also providing them and other inmates with better
access to fresh fruits and vegetables.
$20,984.93
Alabama
Department of
Agriculture and
Industries
$494,794.76 Grant Administration
Ensure that the State Agency and sub-awardees abide by Federal and
State requirements and regulations by performing pre-award and post-
award activities to administer Specialty Crop Block Grant Program
funding
$36,651.46
9
Organization Amount Funded to Organization Project Title Description
Proje
