Last week, the USDA announced a program, Marketing Assistance for Specialty Crops (MASC), which can provide up to $125,000 in assistance to qualified specialty crop producers. Depending on program demand, benefits may be prorated. They intend to issue checks before the end of next month.
Sign up starts: Dec. 10, 2024
Deadline to apply: Jan. 8, 2025
Who Is Eligible:
MASC covers the following commercially marketed specialty crops grown in the US:
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.
Eligible producers or legal entities must:
Have an average adjusted gross income (AGI) of less than $900,000 for tax years 2021, 2022, and 2023, unless the producer or legal entity’s average adjusted gross farm income is at least 75 percent of their average AGI;
Be in the business of producing a specialty crop at the time of application and be entitled to an ownership share and share in the risk of producing a specialty crop that will be sold in calendar year 2025;
Be a U.S. citizen, resident alien, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, or other organizational structure organized under state law, Indian Tribe or Tribal Organization, or a foreign person or foreign entity who meets certain eligibility requirements;
Comply with the provisions of the “Highly Erodible Land and Wetland Conservation” regulations, often called the conservation compliance provisions; and
Not have a controlled substance violation.
How to Apply
Eligible producers or legal entities must submit a complete Form FSA-1140 (FSA-1140-Spanish) MASC Application to any FSA county office by Jan. 8, 2025. Additionally, instructions for FSA-1140 (Instrucciones para FSA-1140) are available. FSA staff at your local USDA Service Center will work with you to file your application.
MASC applicants, established and new, must also submit the following information to FSA if not already on file at the time of application:
Form FSA-1141 (FSA-1141-Spanish), Marketing Assistance For Specialty Crops (MASC) New Producer Expected Sales Worksheet
Form AD-2047, Customer Data Worksheet.
Form CCC-902, Farm Operating Plan for an individual or legal entity.
Form CCC-941, Average Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) Certification and Consent to Disclosure of Tax Information.
Form CCC-942, Certification of Income from Farming, Ranching and Forestry Operations, if applicable, for the producer and members of entities.
A highly erodible land conservation (sometimes referred to as HELC) and wetland conservation certification (Form AD-1026) Highly Erodible Land Conservation (HELC) and Wetland Conservation (WC) Certification) for the ERP producer and applicable affiliates.
FSA may request other documentation to support reported specialty crop sales.
