Dear Colleagues,

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is accepting proposals for the 2022 Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.

The Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP) funds projects that enhance the competitiveness of California specialty crops. The SCBGP is designed to support all sectors of California's specialty crop industry and improve the performance of California specialty crops within local, domestic, national, and international markets. Specialty crops are fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, and horticulture and nursery crops (including floriculture).

CDFA anticipates that up to $22 million will be awarded to projects enhancing the competitiveness of California specialty crops. Grant awards will range from $100,000 to $500,000 per project and projects may last for up to two years and six months (projects submitted to the Additional Assistance for Historically Underrepresented Organizations will range from $50,000 to $100,000 and may last up to two years). Grant funds cannot be expended before November 1, 2022, or after April 30, 2025.

CDFA has developed three funding areas, with one to three categories within each area.

Funding Area I: Market Enhancement

Proposals in this funding area will focus on increasing sales of California specialty crops through promotion of the unique qualities of specialty crops grown in California, developing new markets, increasing opportunities in existing markets, improving availability, and increasing demand.

Funding Area II: Access, Education, and Training

Proposals in this funding area will focus on improving the competitiveness of California specialty crops through improving access to and consumption of California specialty crops, providing nutritional education for consumers in order to increase consumption, and providing training for producers and growers to equip them for current and future challenges in specialty crop agriculture.

Funding Area III: Research

Proposals in this funding area will focus on improving the competitiveness of California specialty crops through projects that invest in specialty crop research, including research that focuses on conservation and environmental outcomes, pest and disease control, and organic and environmentally sustainable production practices. While research may be the primary objective of proposals in this funding area, all SCBGP projects are required to include an outreach component that communicates project efforts to specialty crop stakeholders. In developing the outreach component, applicants are strongly encouraged to include outreach to historically underserved and socially disadvantaged farmers.

Concept Proposals are due October 8, 2021 at 5:00 PM PT.  To apply, please review the full application requirements:  2022 Request for Concept Proposals.

If you do not plan to apply to the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program this funding cycle, please consider serving on the CDFA SCBGP Technical Review Committee (TRC). 

CDFA will conduct two levels of review during the concept proposal process. The first level is an administrative review to determine whether concept proposal requirements are met and, if applicable, assess an applicant's past CDFA grant performance. The second level is a technical review to evaluate the merits of the concept proposals. The Technical Review Committee will perform the technical review. The TRC is comprised of volunteers with knowledge and expertise regarding California's specialty crop industry, including growers and representatives from industry, universities, public agencies, and non-profits with an interest and expertise in specialty crops and agricultural systems. The committee reviews, evaluates, and makes recommendations to CDFA on proposals submitted for funding to California's Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.

Individuals interested in serving on the TRC must submit a completed application form and a copy of their résumé to grants@cdfa.ca.gov before 5:00 p.m. on Monday, October 4, 2021. Please reference the first page of the application form for requirements and restrictions. For more information and to download the application please visit the program's website, www.cdfa.ca.gov/grants or contact CDFA's Office of Grants Administration at grants@cdfa.ca.gov or leave a message at (916) 657-3231 for additional information.

Thank you.

Kathleen Nolan, Director, ANR Office of Contracts & Grants (OCG)

Dear Colleagues,

The Specialty Crop Multi-State Program (SCMP) is a federal grant program offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA, AMS). The purpose of the SCMP is to competitively award funds to projects that enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops by funding collaborative, multi-state projects that address regional or national level specialty crop issues, including food safety, plant pests and disease, research, crop-specific projects addressing common issues, and marketing and promotion.  All prospective applicants are encouraged to review the 2021 SCMP Request for Applications on the USDA, AMS website: https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/2021_SCMP_RFA.pdf

Beginning September 24, 2021 additional information about the SCMP, including application instructions and templates will be available on the CDFA SCMP website: http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/Specialty_Crop_Competitiveness_Grants/SCMP.html

Grant awards will range from $250,000 to $1 million per project and projects may last for up to three years. Specialty crop producer associations and groups, other state agencies, Tribal government entities, universities, non-profits, and other stakeholder groups and organizations are eligible to apply. All SCMP proposals must include at least two partners (referred to as "multi-state partners") with substantive involvement in the project, and the multi-state partners must be located in two different states to qualify for the program.

The deadline to submit SCMP proposals to California is 1:59 p.m. PT on November 4, 2021. Proposals must be submitted electronically to grants@cdfa.ca.gov.

All questions regarding the SCMP should be emailed to grants@cdfa.ca.gov. Please stipulate in the subject line that your question is specific to the SCMP.

Thank you.

Kathleen Nolan, Director, ANR Office of Contracts & Grants (OCG)

Dear Colleagues,

The U.S Economic Development Administration's STEM Talent Challenge aims to build STEM talent training systems to strengthen regional innovation economies. The FY21 STEM Talent Challenge will award a total of $2 million in grants to organizations that are creating and implementing STEM talent development strategies that complement their region's innovation economy.

Projects should aim to identify opportunities in high-growth potential sectors, and to expand and empower the innovation economy workforce, including by:

• Engaging regional entrepreneurs, innovators, and the organizations that support them to assess and forecast current and future talent needs and to develop collaborative solutions with work-based programs;
• Building highly skilled talent and connecting it to highly technical opportunities that foster professional development and provide continuing advanced skills training to develop the technical and scientific workforce that regional innovation initiatives need;
• Strengthening collaboration among entrepreneurs, industry leaders and employers, educational organizations, established corporations, economic and/or workforce development organizations, and the public sector to enable better access to skilled workers and to develop demand-driven workforce pipelines for the innovation economy; and
• Placing new employees into immediate job openings with regional employers in need of STEM talent.

Competition applicants may request up to $250,000 for implementation of a 24-month program.

A 1:1 funding match is required.

For application details, please review the full announcement at https://eda.gov/files/oie/stem/2021/FY21-STEM-Talent-Challenge-NOFO-Final.pdf

The STEM Talent Challenge is one of many EDA programs aimed at building strong regional economies and supporting community-led economic development. EDA also was allocated $3 billion in supplemental funding under the American Rescue Plan to assist communities nationwide in their efforts to build back better by accelerating economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and building local economies that will be resilient to future economic shocks. For more information about EDA's American Rescue Plan programs, visit https://www.eda.gov/ARPA/.

Thank you.

Kathleen Nolan, Director, ANR Office of Contracts & Grants (OCG)

Dear Colleagues,

The National Science Foundation (NSF) sent out the following communication this morning concerning the disclosure requirements for biographical sketches and current and pending support in proposals:

"In an effort to provide the community with helpful reference information regarding pre-award and post-award disclosure information in the biographical sketch and current and pending support proposal sections, NSF has developed a disclosure table entitled,  NSF Pre-award and Post-award Disclosures Relating to the Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support, to identify where these disclosures must be provided in proposals as well as in project reports. Proposers and awardees may begin using this resource immediately to assist with completing the relevant proposal and project report sections. As a reminder, current and pending support information is used to assess the capacity of the individual to carry out the research as proposed, as well as to help assess any potential overlap/duplication with the project being proposed.

A revised Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) will be released next week with an effective date of October 4, 2021, and the disclosures table will be included in this revised version. As noted above, however, proposers and awardees may begin using this table immediately."

If you have any questions, please contact your assigned analyst in OCG.  If you are campus-based, please contact your Sponsored Programs Office.

Thank you.

Kathleen P. Nolan, Director, ANR Office of Contracts & Grants