Marketing Assistance for Specialty Crops (MASC)

The Marketing Assistance for Specialty Crops (MASC) program provides financial assistance to specialty crop producers to help them expand domestic markets or develop new markets for their crops. 

MASC helps specialty crop producers offset higher marketing costs related to:

• Tenderness and perishability of specialty crops like fruits, vegetables, floriculture, nursery crops and herbs;

• Specialized handling and transport equipment with temperature and humidity control;

• Packaging to prevent damage; 

• Moving perishables to market quickly; and

• Higher labor costs. 

MASC covers the following commercially marketed specialty crops grown in the US:

• Fruits (fresh, dried);

• Vegetables (including dry edible beans and peas, mushrooms, and vegetable seed);

• Tree nuts;

• Nursery crops, Christmas trees, and floriculture;

• Culinary and medicinal herbs and spices; and

• Honey, hops, maple sap, tea, turfgrass, and grass seed.

Common examples of specialty crops can be found on USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service’s specialty crop definition webpage. 

Eligible producers or legal entities must:

• Have an average adjusted gross income (AGI) of less than $900,000 for tax years 2021, 2022, and 2023, unless the producer or legal entity’s average adjusted gross farm income is at least 75 percent of their average AGI;

• Be in the business of producing a specialty crop at the time of application and be entitled to an ownership share and share in the risk of producing a specialty crop that will be sold in calendar year 2025;

• Be a U.S. citizen, resident alien, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, or other organizational structure organized under state law, Indian Tribe or Tribal Organization, or a foreign person or foreign entity who meets certain eligibility requirements;

• Comply with the provisions of the “Highly Erodible Land and Wetland Conservation” regulations, often called the conservation compliance provisions; and

• Not have a controlled substance violation.

A one-time marketing payment scaled to your specialty crop sales, with a hard per-person cap and no spending requirement.

• Cap: "Payments are subject to a payment limitation of $900,000." Direct attribution applies — "any payment to a legal entity will also be considered for payment limitation purposes to be a payment to persons or legal entities with an interest in the legal entity or in a sub-entity."

• How it is calculated: "MASC payments will be calculated based on the producer's total specialty crop sales for the calendar year elected by the producer." Sales are split into tiers — up to $49,999; $50,000-$99,999; $100,000-$499,999; $500,000-$999,999; and all sales over $1 million — and each tier is multiplied by its own percent payment factor, then summed.

• The rates are not published in advance: the factor for each tier is "to be determined after application period ends." So you cannot compute your payment before applying.

• You may get less than calculated: "If demand for MASC payments exceeds available funding, either MASC payments may be prorated, the payment limitation may be lowered, or both. If proration or a reduction of the payment limitation is necessary, the reduction or lowered payment limitation will apply equally to all MASC participants." Conversely, "If additional funding is available after MASC payments are issued, FSA may issue an additional payment" — which is what happened for 2025 (April 29, 2025 news release: "USDA to Issue $1.3 Billion to Specialty Crop Producers Through Second Marketing Assistance Program Payment").

• No match, no cost-share, no receipts for spending — the payment is based on sales, not on expenses incurred.

• Income test: average AGI under $900,000 for tax years 2021, 2022 and 2023, "unless the producer or legal entity's average adjusted gross farm income is at least 75 percent of their average AGI."

• New producers are paid on "expected 2025 calendar year specialty crop sales," documented on form FSA-1141 with supporting evidence.

• Value added to a crop does not count: "The portion of sales derived from adding value to a specialty crop (such as sorting, processing, or packaging) is not included in eligible sales."

Eligible producers or legal entities must submit a complete Form FSA-1140 (FSA-1140-Spanish) MASC Application to any FSA county office by Jan. 8, 2025. Additionally, instructions for FSA-1140 (Instrucciones para FSA-1140) are available. FSA staff at your local USDA Service Center will work with you to file your application.

FSA will issue MASC payments after the end of the application period. If demand for MASC payments exceeds available funding, MASC payments may be prorated, and the payment limitation of $125,000 may be lowered. If additional funding is available after MASC payments are issued, FSA may issue an additional payment.

For established specialty crop growers, those who certify crop sales in 2023 or 2024, FSA will calculate MASC payments based on the producer’s total specialty crop sales for the calendar year elected by the producer. 

Payments for new producers will be based on their expected 2025 calendar year sales and must submit FSA-1141 (FSA-1141-Spanish), Marketing Assistance for Specialty Crops (MASC) New Producer Expected Sales Worksheet.  Additionally, instructions for FSA-1140 (Instrucciones para FSA-1140) are available.