WASHINGTON—Farmers who grow fruits, vegetables, and nuts may qualify for emergency financial relief through a newly announced federal assistance program targeting specialty crop producers.
The United States Department of Agriculture has rolled out $1 billion in funding through its Assistance for Specialty Crop Farmers Program, designed to help growers of crops that weren’t included in the earlier Farmer Bridge Assistance Program.
Operating under the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act, the program will be managed by the USDA’s Farm Service Agency. Producers must submit their 2025 acreage information to FSA by March 13 to be considered for assistance.
“The ASCF program payments are designed to address financial stress that specialty crop farmers encountered due to high input costs, such as fuel and fertilizer inputs; persistent inflation; market disruptions; and foreign competition that often benefits from lower labor costs,” explained Tony Banks, senior assistant director of agriculture, development and innovation at Virginia Farm Bureau Federation.
Banks emphasized that specialty crop farmers face unique challenges compared to traditional commodity producers, lacking the same financial safety nets and risk management options available to grain and livestock operations.
“Specialty crops tend to be highly perishable and can’t be stored from one year to the next to wait for better prices,” Banks noted. “These ASCFP payments will help specialty crop producers offset incurred losses.”
Payment amounts will be calculated based on farmers’ reported 2025 planted acreage. Growers must ensure their acreage reports are complete and correct before the 5 p.m. deadline on March 13. The USDA plans to announce specific payment rates for each crop type by the end of March.
Crops eligible for ASCF funding include:
(A) Almond, apple, apricot, aronia berry, artichoke, asparagus, avocado; (B) banana, bean (snap or green; lima; dry edible), beet (table), blackberry, blueberry, breadfruit, broccoli (including broccoli raab), Brussels sprouts; (C) cabbage (including Chinese), cacao, carrot, cashew, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, cherimoya, cherry, chestnut (for nuts), chive, citrus, coconut, coffee, collards (including kale), cranberry, cucumber, currant; (D) date, dry edible beans and peas; (E) edamame, eggplant, endive; (F) feijou, fig, filbert (hazelnut); (G) garlic, gooseberry, grape (including raisin), guava; (H) horseradish; (K) kiwi, kohlrabi; (L) leek, lettuce, litchi; (M) macadamia, mango, melon (all types), mushroom (cultivated), mustard and other greens; (N) nectarine; (O) okra, olive, onion, Opuntia; (P) papaya, parsley, parsnip, passion fruit, pea (garden; English or edible pod; dry edible), peach, pear, pecan, pepper, persimmon, pineapple, pistachio, plum (including prune), pomegranate, potato, pumpkin; (Q) quince; (R) radish (all types), raspberry, rhubarb, rutabaga; (S) salsify, spinach, squash (summer and winter), strawberry, Suriname cherry, sweet corn, sweet potato, Swiss chard; (T) taro, tomato (including tomatillo), turnip; (W) walnut, watermelon.
Farmers growing dry edible beans and peas who already received support through the Farmer Bridge Assistance Program cannot receive additional ASCF payments.
Additional details about the ASCF program are available at fsa.usda.gov/fba, or by contacting your local FSA county office.
Media: Contact Banks at 804-290-1114.
