Marketing Assistance Available for Specialty Crop Producers

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency’s Marketing Assistance for Specialty Crops program is accepting applications from December 10, 2024 through January 8, 2025.

Interested applicants can attend a virtual MASC briefing on December 10 at 2:30 p.m. (EST).

To be eligible for MASC, a producer must currently be in business, maintain an ownership share and share in the risk of producing a specialty crop that will be sold in 2025. MASC helps specialty crop producers fund higher marketing costs associated with the perishable nature of their crops, specialized handling/transport, packaging, the need to move to market quickly and the higher labor costs.

Application forms will be available December 10. Applicants can submit the forms to their local FSA office. Producers must certify their specialty crop sales for calendar year 2023 or 2024.