Marketing Assistance for Specialty Crops (MASC)

Written By Denise Pullella

The Marketing Assistance for Specialty Crops (MASC) program provides financial assistance to specialty crop producers to help them expand domestic markets or develop new markets for their crops. 

Sign up starts: Dec, 10 2024

Deadline to apply: Jan. 8, 2025

Specialty crop producers submit an application through their county Farm Service Agency office. Eligible producers will receive a payment. Applications are due January 8, 2025.

Specialty crops include:

  • Fruits (fresh, dried);

  • Vegetables (including dry edible beans and peas, mushrooms, and vegetable seed);

  • Tree nuts;

  • Nursery crops, Christmas trees, and floriculture;

  • Culinary and medicinal herbs and spices; and

  • Honey, hops, maple sap, tea, turfgrass, and grass seed.

MASC a funding assistance program, not a grant program. Payments will be based on specialty crop sales in 2023 or 2025 or expected sales in 2025 for new producers. Payment factors will be finalized once all applications are submitted. The maximum payment per producer or legal entity will be $125,000. It is not yet known when payments will be made. No project proposal is needed for funding. Payments may be used at the producer’s discretion – no reporting on the usage of funds is expected. Producers should contact their local FSA office with questions and to apply.

Additional resources:

See https://cpa.tennessee.edu/funding-opportunities/ for information on other funding opportunities.

For full description, eligibility criteria and how to apply, visit:

https://www.fsa.usda.gov/resources/programs/marketing-assistance-specialty-crops-masc

Denise Pullella