COVID Cost-Share Reimbursement Program
Specialty Crop Block Grant COVID Cost-Share Reimbursement Program (COVID-CSRP) - Program ending September 30, 2023
H.R. 133 - the Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 133 Stimulus Funding) provided additional funding to the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP) due to COVID-19 impacts to the food system. This funding also provides for certain flexibilities to the SCBGP.
A portion of this funding will be used to assist businesses, organizations and individuals with eligible expenses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Please see below for applicant and expense eligibility.
Eligible Applicants:
- Specialty Crop Producers
- Businesses or Individuals involved in Specialty Crop Production or Distribution
- Non-Profit Organizations
- Community-based Organizations
Eligible Expenses between April 3, 2021 and September 30, 2023:
1. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) less than $5,000 per unit.
For purposes of these funds, PPE is defined as items such as gloves, face masks, hand sanitizer, touchless thermometers, clothing coverings, etc. Specialty crop production is labor intensive. In the absence of PPE, workers in the specialty crop industry would be hindered in their availability and functioning, and the need for greater distancing would mean that fewer workers could work at a given specialty crop facility. This would place specialty crops at a competitive disadvantage; therefore, PPE may be necessary to support the purposes of the specialty crop industry and therefore, the SCBGP.
2. Facility Adjustments for Worker and Product Safety
For purposes of these funds, facility adjustments should be defined as COVID-related infrastructure improvements that producers have or will make to protect their workforce, production, and commercial product, such as the installation of plexiglass barriers, appropriate sanitary dividers, COVID early warning sewage testing, hand washing stations, and/or ventilation/air filtration upgrades or similar portable type systems.
3. Vaccination Events
For the purposes of these funds, vaccination events are defined as events that provide COVID, as well as regular FLU, vaccinations to individuals involved in the production and distribution of Specialty Crops.
