14-Apr-2026 Last updated on 14-Apr-2026 at 16:16 GMT The USDA is offering more than $275 million in grant funding for specialty crop growers during the fiscal year (FY) 2026, as revealed at a Michigan event attended by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and U.S. Representative Tom Barrett. The grant funding will come through the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP), Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI), and the Specialty Crop Multi-State Program (SCMP), with funding levels boosted thanks to the Working Families Tax Cuts, the USDA shared in a press release . The National Institute of Food and Agriculture administers the SCRI, which will use at least $20 million to fund research into specialty crop automation with the goal of reducing labor costs. The Agricultural Marketing Service will implement the other two programs and fund projects to enhance the market competitiveness of specialty crop growers through education, marketing, and research support. This year, ...