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Morrison Clients Receive More than $1.18 Million from the California Department of Food and Agriculture's (CDFA) Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.

The California Department of Agriculture (CDFA) announced the successful award recipients for the 2018 Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP) this week, with more than $1.18 million in funding received by applicants who were assisted by Morrison.

This year, 83 projects ranging from $25,000 to $300,000 were funded through the competitive grant program, which seeks to enhance the competitiveness of California grown specialty crops. Among other successful awardees this funding round, Morrison client California Olive Oil Council received nearly $300,000 to execute a project that will help the statewide nonprofit trade association promote California grown olive oil to retailers nationwide.

The Specialty Crop Block Grant Program is a nationwide program, which is funded through the United States Department of Agriculture and administered by state departments of agriculture. California receives the most funding and typically awards applicants at higher funding levels than other states. Oregon, Washington, Texas, Florida, and Michigan, have programs similar to California's.

California and Washington's programs are likely to open for applications soon (last year the application period for California opened September 12; Washington anticipates opening September 21), with the application periods in other states likely opening in December and January. Most programs are a two-phase process, with the first phase of the application period traditionally just 30 days.

Eligible applicants for the program include non-profits and for profit organizations; local, state, federal and tribal government entities; and public and private colleges and universities. Eligible projects are likely to include marketing and promotional projects; training and education projects; research projects that address environmental stewardship and conservation, plant health and pest management, and food safety projects.

Morrison has been writing applications on behalf of our clients in this program for more than a decade with a strong track record of success in multiple states - including a 100% success rate for all applicants we assisted for the latest funding round.

If you have interest in leveraging Morrison's grant writing services to apply for grant funding through the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program in any state, please contact the Morrison Grants Team by email at grants@morrisonco.net or call us at 530-893-4764. Morrison also works with a number of other grant programs and we would be happy to chat with you about our work helping food and agriculture companies, small businesses, and non-profit organizations in their efforts to secure grant funding.