Deadline: 6 June 2025
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service is inviting applications for Technical Assistance for Specialty Crops (TASC) program available to U.S. entities to provide funding for projects that seek to remove, resolve, or mitigate existing or potential sanitary, phytosanitary, or technical barriers that prohibit or threaten the export of U.S. specialty crops.
Funding Information
- Anticipated to be $9 million. The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 provided $9 million in funding for each of the fiscal years FY 2019 through FY 2025. Congress has not yet determined funding levels for FY 2026.
- Funding per award under TASC is limited to a maximum of $500,000. Applications that request more than $500,000 in total funding will not be considered.
Eligible Activities
- To be eligible for consideration, TASC applications must meet the following criteria:
- Applications must identify and address an existing or potential sanitary, phytosanitary, or technical barrier that prohibits or threatens the export of commercially available U.S. specialty crops; and
- Applications must demonstrate how the proposed activities will remove, resolve, or mitigate the identified existing or potential sanitary, phytosanitary, or technical barrier and will benefit an entire industry rather than a specific company or brand.
Ineligible Activities
- TASC funding can only be used for generic activities. For–profit entities cannot use program funds to conduct private business, promote private self–interests, supplement the costs of normal sales activities, or promote their own products or services beyond specific uses approved by FAS. TASC funds cannot be used to support normal operating costs of individual organizations, including government organizations, nor as a source to recover pre–award costs or prior expenses from previous or ongoing projects. Costs related to market research, advertising, or other promotional activities are not eligible for reimbursement. FAS will also not reimburse unreasonable expenditures or expenditures made prior to approval of an application.
Eligible Commodities
- The TASC program is only open to U.S. specialty crops. For the purposes of the TASC program, specialty crops are defined as most cultivated plants, or the products thereof, produced in the U.S. except for wheat, feed grains, oilseeds, cotton, rice, peanuts, sugar, and tobacco. Applications may cover more than one U.S. specialty crop.
Eligibility Criteria
- Any United States private or government entity with a demonstrated role or interest in exporting U.S. agricultural specialty crops. Government organizations consist of Federal, State, and local agencies. Private organizations may include non–profit trade associations, universities, agricultural cooperatives, state regional trade groups, and private companies. Foreign organizations, whether government or private, may participate as third parties in activities carried out by eligible organizations, but are not eligible for direct funding assistance through the program.
- All applicants must have an active registration in the U.S. Government System for Award Management before the application submission deadline of the announcement. Applicants with inactive, expired, pending, or excluded listings will be deemed ineligible. Exceptions, waivers, or extensions will not be considered.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
