USDA announces revised performance measures for AMS grant programs

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced updated performance measures for the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, the Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Program, the Acer Access and Development Program, and the Dairy Business Innovation Initiatives.

The updates will apply to the fiscal year 2022 grant cycle and beyond.
“These improvements will make it easier for USDA AMS’ grant programs recipients to report their accomplishments.” AMS Administrator Bruce Summers said. “We are continuously trying to improve our customer service by making grant funding opportunities more accessible. These revised performance measures were developed from thorough stakeholder feedback  and in close coordination with state departments of agriculture.”

The updated performance measures satisfy the 2018 Farm Bill directive for AMS to examine and develop new SCBGP performance measures in consultation with the State Departments of Agriculture and specialty crop stakeholders. AMS took this as an opportunity to update performance measures across multiple grant programs and plans to develop performance measures for its remaining grant programs in the coming months.

The new performance measures will:

• More accurately reflect grant recipients’ accomplishments.
• Reduce burden on grant applicants and recipients.
• Improve AMS’ ability to report on the impact of its grant programs.
• Standardize measures across programs where appropriate.

AMS will provide tools and resources to help grant applicants and recipients use the new measures into their work, beginning with the FY 2022 Requests for Applications.

Funding will be available to grantees to conduct program evaluations as part of future Requests for Application.

For more information, visit the Grant Performance Measures webpage.