Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP) - Virginia

Competitive USDA grant, administered in Virginia by VDACS, that funds projects to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops - fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, and horticulture/nursery crops including floriculture. Uses a two-phase process (pre-application, then full application by invitation); selected projects are compiled into the Virginia State Plan and submitted to USDA for final award. Deadlines and funding are contingent on the final Farm Bill and USDA Notice of Funds Availability.

Agricultural associations, industry and producer groups, community-based organizations, and academia in Virginia. Projects must improve the competitiveness of specialty crops and produce measurable outcomes for the specialty crop industry or the public rather than a single organization, institution, or individual.

No award ceiling, award floor, or matching/cost-share requirement is published for the Virginia round. The VDACS program page covers eligibility, the two-phase process, and the timeline but states no dollar figures at all, and neither the allowable-costs guidance nor the accounting questionnaire linked from it sets a per-project cap. Past award sizes can only be inferred from USDA's national list of previously funded SCBGP projects, which VDACS links to rather than publishing Virginia amounts itself.

What is published about the money: awards are made to USDA first and then passed down. "USDA reviews and approves the final grant award," and "disbursement of awards are made to the applicant (sub-grantee) after the grant award is made to VDACS. (Anticipated October 1, 2026)." Applicants should also treat the whole round as provisional: "All deadlines and funding are contingent upon the final U.S. Farm Bill and Notice of Funds Availability from USDA's Agriculture Marketing Services."

Cost rules are the real constraint. Applicants "must follow USDA and VDACS cost guidelines," and the 2025 Allowable and Unallowable Costs and Activities table makes several categories unallowable outright — among them acquiring buildings, facilities or land, and any construction, renovation or alteration of an existing building (including site grading and the purchase of building materials such as lumber, concrete, roofing or plumbing). Renting land or building space is allowable, but "lease agreements to own (i.e., lease-to-own or rent-to-own) are not allowable" and the lease "must terminate at the end of the grant cycle." Alcoholic beverages and contingency/rainy-day funds are unallowable.

One structural condition worth noting for individual farmers: projects must "produce measurable outcomes for the specialty crop industry and/or the public rather than a single organization, institution or individual," so a project that benefits only one farm does not qualify.

Apply through the VDACS WebGrants system (register for an account, then complete the application) and submit a Commonwealth of Virginia (COV) W-9. The 2026 round is closed (pre-applications were due Feb 6, 2026; awards announced Sept 2026); the program runs annually.