USDA specialty crop grants for FY2026 will exceed $275 million, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced in Lansing, Michigan on April 13, 2026, alongside Rep. Tom Barrett. The funding flows through three programs — the Specialty Crop Research Initiative, the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, and the Specialty Crop Multi-State Program — and reflects funding levels boosted by the Working Families Tax Cuts, which more than doubled the annual allocation for specialty crop research in a single legislative step.
The largest increase is in the Specialty Crop Research Initiative, administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Its annual funding rises from $80 million to $175 million, a jump of nearly $100 million per year. The Specialty Crop Block Grant Program and the Specialty Crop Multi-State Program, both administered by the Agricultural Marketing Service, see their combined annual funding increase from $85 million to $100 million beginning in FY2026. Secretary Rollins said the investments are timed to align with growing consumer demand for whole, nutritious foods and the need to support the farmers who supply them.
USDA specialty crop grants include $20 million first-ever automation research set-aside
A structural change in how SCRI funding is deployed marks a significant shift in USDA’s specialty crop strategy. For the first time, the Notice of Funding Opportunity for the Specialty Crop Research Initiative will reserve at least $20 million specifically for research and development into mechanization and automation technologies for the specialty crop industry. The explicit goal is to help growers reduce labor costs, which have been among the most persistent financial pressures in fruit, vegetable, tree nut, and horticulture production. Labor costs in specialty crop production are substantially higher than in commodity grain farming, and access to reliable harvest labor has become increasingly constrained over recent years.
The specialty crop sector accounts for roughly one-third of all U.S. crop sales by value but has historically received a smaller proportional share of USDA grant funding than commodity row crops. The Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance has been pushing for a dedicated $5 billion aid package for the sector alongside the farm bill currently moving through Congress. The USDA grant announcement comes on top of the $1 billion in direct payment support the agency announced in February through the Assistance for Specialty Crop Farmers program, which provided bridge payments for specialty crops not covered by the earlier $11 billion Farmer Bridge Assistance Program for row crops. For more on the broader legislative push for specialty crop support, Agroinformacion covered House Agriculture Chairman Thompson’s push for $10 billion in additional specialty crop emergency aid.
How the three USDA specialty crop grant programs work and who can apply
The three programs serve distinct but complementary roles. SCRI funds research and extension projects targeting the most critical challenges facing the domestic specialty crop industry, ranging from disease and pest management to market development, food safety, and now automation technology. Grants are awarded competitively to universities, research institutions, and other eligible entities.
SCBGP distributes funding to all U.S. states and territories using a formula based on specialty crop acreage and production value in each state. This means states with larger specialty crop sectors — California, Florida, Washington, Michigan, and others — receive proportionally larger allocations. Recipient states then award funds to producers, organizations, and researchers through state-administered competitive processes. SCMP differs from SCBGP by focusing on multi-state projects and awarding funds competitively to state governments, local governments, tribal nations, institutions of higher education, and nonprofits in non-participating states. The original press release was published by the USDA on April 13, 2026.