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Applications are now open for grants from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) to increase the competitiveness of domestic and foreign markets for Minnesota-grown specialty crops.

The Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP) funds projects that will:

• Market and promote specialty crops
• Support research and development related to specialty crops
• Expand the availability and access to specialty crops
• Address challenges faced by producers of specialty crops  

The MDA anticipates awarding approximately $1.25 million in grants using a competitive review process, with a maximum award of $125,000 and a minimum award of $25,000. There is no matching requirement.

Producer organizations, nonprofits, government agencies, tribal organizations, universities, and other organizations involved in Minnesota agriculture are encouraged to apply. Individual producers, for-profit businesses, or commercial entities are also eligible to apply if their project will provide value to the specialty crop industry at large and incorporate a plan for disseminating the results of the project broadly.

Grant funding for the SCBGP is provided annually from a block grant from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) under the legislative authority of the 2018 Farm Bill. USDA defines specialty crops as fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture and nursery crops, floriculture, and processed products that have 50% or more specialty crop content by weight, exclusive of added water.

Applications for 2025 SCBGP funds must be submitted by 4 p.m. on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. Visit the MDA’s Specialty Crop Block Grant Program web page for full program and application details, as well as lists of previously funded projects.

Note: Due to recent Executive Orders, federal funding may be reduced or cancelled. Publishing this request for proposals (RFP) does not commit the state to awarding any federal funds.

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Media Contact
Larry Schumacher, MDA Communications
651-201-6629
Larry.Schumacher@state.mn.us

A newly published study by researchers at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA), the University of Minnesota’s Minnesota Geological Survey, and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources reveals new information about the age of groundwater in the state’s distinctive Driftless Area of southeastern Minnesota.

The peer-reviewed study examined current concentrations of a discontinued row-crop herbicide, popular in the 1970s and 1980s, in springs and wells. Researchers then compared the data against the historical use of the herbicide. Researchers combined those results with independent age-dating methods to reveal a mixture of groundwater ages, ranging from 10 to 40 years old in many of the region’s shallower springs and wells, to thousands of years old in deeper aquifers.

Groundwater ages were then combined with historical land use data and climate information to help interpret nitrate concentration trends between 2000-2021 for nearly 1,200 well, spring, and stream monitoring locations.

The results showed that most monitoring sites with elevated nitrate had groundwater less than 20 years old. Nitrate levels in this water were either decreasing or relatively steady. Improved agricultural practices may have contributed to these results. Dilution from record-setting precipitation over the past two decades could also be a factor. Groundwater that is several decades older typically had lower nitrate concentrations, but a higher likelihood of increasing trends as the nitrate-contaminated water moves into deeper aquifer systems.

The authors highlight that although it may take decades to measure the impact of clean water activities in certain aquifers, the cumulative effect of best management practices implemented today will help reduce the amount of nitrate entering groundwater over the long term.

The study’s findings are available in the Hydrogeology Journal(https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10040-024-02871-2).

Funding for the project was provided by Minnesota’s Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, MDA’s Pesticide Regulatory Account, Root River Field to Stream Partnership, the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, and legislative appropriation to the Minnesota Geological Survey, and the University of Minnesota.

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Media Contact
Allen Sommerfeld, MDA Communications
651-201-6185
Allen.Sommerfeld@state.mn.us

Educators across the state are encouraged to participate in the 2025 Minnesota Grown Cream of the Crop Contest for Farm to School and Early Care. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA), through its Minnesota Grown program, is proud to launch the second year of the contest, now expanded to recognize K-12 schools, early care centers, and family day cares that go above and beyond to serve and promote Minnesota-grown foods.

 Those eligible can submit their application on the Minnesota Grown website. The contest opens on February 24 and educators have until April 11, 2025, to apply.

The highest-scoring entry in each of three categories will receive the Cream of the Crop Awards, with awards given for School District, Early Care Center, and Family Day Care of the Year. Alongside the top awards, participants will be acknowledged for their farm to school activities through three levels of Outstanding in the Field Honors: the Golden Drumstick, Silver Squash, and Bronze Berry.  

“The Cream of the Crop contest is a great way to showcase the farm to school and early care efforts in Minnesota. It’s the cherry on top for schools and early care providers who serve up fresh, local food that fuels students, and supports farmers,” said Jayme Anderson, Farm to School and Early Care Consultant at the Minnesota Department of Education.

Past participants are eager to compete again. "Winning the Minnesota Grown District of the Year Contest in 2023 was a tremendous honor for the Prior Lake-Savage Area School’s Child Nutrition Department, and reaffirmed our commitment to providing students with fresh, locally sourced food,” said Krissy McIntyre, the district’s Assistant Director of Child Nutrition Services. “We are deeply grateful to our local farmers and child nutrition team. Their hard work and partnership are the foundation of our Farm to School program."

The Minnesota Grown Cream of the Crop Awards are a partnership between Minnesota Grown and the Minnesota Farm to School Leadership Team. Educators can visit the MDA's Farm to School and Early Care Overview to find resources and ideas for exploring local food.

Minnesota Grown is a program of the MDA to promote products grown and raised in Minnesota. The program has connected consumers with local farmers, farmers’ markets, and other producers of agricultural products for over 40 years.

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Media Contact
Brittany Raveill, MDA Communications
651-201-6131
Brittany.Raveill@state.mn.us
 

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s (MDA) Make it Minnesota Program is hosting 10 Minnesota brands at the upcoming Natural Products Expo West (Expo West) tradeshow.

Expo West is one of four national business-to-business (B2B) tradeshows where MDA will gather local brands in “Minnesota Pavilions” in 2025 – an approach that allows for cost savings and cooperative promotion and event execution. Other Minnesota Pavilion events include Winter Fancy Food Show (Las Vegas in January), National Restaurant Association/Taste of the States (Chicago in May), and Sweets and Snacks Expo (Indianapolis in May). Space remains available for any interested food and beverage brands in Minnesota Pavilions at the latter two events.

The following Minnesota Brands will be exhibiting as part of “Team Minnesota” in the Minnesota Pavilion at Expo West 2025:

• Bim Bam Boo
• Field Theory Foods
• Flackers
• Huxley
• JonnyPops
• Peace Coffee
• Maazah
• Seven Sundays
• Toom
• Wildly Organic

The annual Expo West event is focused on organic, natural, and conscious consumer packaged goods (CPG) products. It attracts around 3,000 exhibiting companies and as many as 70,000 industry attendees, and brings together buyers and sellers and other supply chain entities from across the national and international CPG and retail ecosystem with great representation from Minnesota.

The Minnesota Pavilion at Expo West will be located on the sprawling Anaheim Convention Center campus in the North Hall, Level 200. The pavilion is also supported by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development’s (DEED) Small Business and Innovation Office, along with the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI), Haberman, GreaterMSP, and Naturally Minnesota.

“We’re very pleased to work together with the MDA and other partners to  support these businesses at Expo West and show the world that Minnesota has a vibrant ecosystem and innovators that create world-class products,” said Neela Mollgaard, DEED’s Office of Small Business and Innovation Executive Director.

“Our aim is to give Minnesota food, beverage, and pet food companies a competitive advantage,” explained MDA Assistant Commissioner Patrice Bailey. “We’re happy to work with some of these companies for more than a decade at this show and watch them grow into national and international brands.”

Bloomington-based breakfast cereal company Seven Sundays has been participating in the Minnesota Pavilion at Expo West since its inception in 2013, and JonnyPops, a fast-growing Elk River frozen pops producer, has participated since 2016. Both brands now boast a national and international retail distribution footprint, validating the difficult dream of many food entrepreneurs and the strategy behind state support at these events.

Tradeshows are taxing for small companies, but they can also be rewarding in terms of sales and relationship-building.

Seven Sunday’s Co-founder Hannah Barnstable said she can’t wait for Expo West 2025. “It’s been so much fun being a part of Team Minnesota, working with the MDA and other Minnesota brands at Expo West over the years,” added Barnstable. “The MDA’s support makes it more manageable, more effective, and our company has definitely benefitted from being there for the past 12 years.”

Make it Minnesota Program Manager Brian Erickson said, “The event has become as much a meaningful gathering for the natural foods ecosystem as it is a place for buyers and sellers to meet.”

Naturally Minnesota and the MDA will again host the sixth-annual Minnesota Mingle at Expo West for pre-registered attendees on Wednesday, March 5, from 5-7 p.m. PST on the Katella Terrace, adjacent to the Minnesota Pavilion. At the reception, relationships will be forged and solidified, and AURI will present a prize of complimentary AURI services to one lucky Minnesota brand.

“We love being a resource for Minnesota’s homegrown businesses and finding novel ways to support them, such as AURI’s Virtual Assistant, AVA,” says Jason Robinson, AURI’s food business development director.  

More than 250 guests are expected, including founders, industry leaders, investors, retailers, and more.

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Media Contact
Allen Sommerfeld, MDA Communications
651-201-6185
Allen.Sommerfeld@state.mn.us
 

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s Rural Finance Authority (RFA) Board has further expanded eligibility for zero-interest Disaster Recovery Loans available to Minnesota farmers whose operations have sustained livestock losses due to three animal diseases: avian Metapneumovirus (aMPV), highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), and the H5N1 flu virus. The RFA Board is now allowing losses from April 1, 2024, to February 24, 2026, to be eligible for the loan program.

This is an expansion of the RFA Board action taken earlier this month which stated an emergency existed with aMPV, HPAI, and H5N1, opening the Disaster Recovery Loans to producers sustaining losses from February 2025 to February 2026.

aMPV is a highly infectious respiratory disease affecting poultry. HPAI is a contagious viral disease of domestic and wild birds and is fatal. H5N1, the same virus that causes HPAI in poultry, can also affect dairy cows and other animals; however, it rarely kills cows. 

The Disaster Recovery Loan Program offers affordable financing to support Minnesota farmers after declared disasters or hardship events, such as animal disease outbreaks. These funds are available to farmers for expenses not covered by insurance, including replacement of flocks or livestock, building improvements, or to cover the loss of revenue when the replacement, improvements, or revenue loss is due to the confirmed presence of one of the three animal diseases. Eligible farmers will work with their local lender to secure the loans from the RFA.

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture's Rural Finance Authority is the state's agricultural lender with a mission to develop farm resources. RFA offers low-interest loan programs for a variety of farm activities.

More information, including full eligibility requirements, can be found on the Disaster Recovery Loan Program webpage. 

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Media Contact
Allen Sommerfeld, MDA Communications
651-201-6185
Allen.Sommerfeld@state.mn.us