Grants Awarded to Grow Demand for MORE Missouri Specialty Crops

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The Missouri Department of Agriculture announced that twelve projects across Missouri received grants funded by the USDA’s Specialty Crop Block Grant program. Missouri received more than $374,000 to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops, which are defined as fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture, and nursery crops, including floriculture. “Missouri agriculture is extremely diverse and supporting our specialty crops is essential to continuing that tradition,” Director of Agriculture Chris Chinn said. “This year’s grant recipients will use their funding to reach more consumers through outreach and advocacy and empower more farmers to expand or diversify their operations.” Selected through a competitive process, these projects focus on increasing sales of Missouri Grown specialty crops by investing in research for various specialty crops, evaluating new specialty crop rotation practices, providing improved nutritional education and marketing materials for consumers, and introducing on-farm consultations and workshops to small and midsized farmers about new and current agriculture technology.