Grant Performance Measures

In 2021, the AMS Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Program, Acer Access and Development Program, and Dairy Business Innovation Initiatives, have updated their performance measures. AMS’s performance measures for its grant programs focus on:

  • Providing short- and long-term impact indicators.
  • More accurately reflecting grant recipients’ accomplishments.
  • Reducing burden on grant applicants and recipients.
  • Improving AMS’ ability to report on the impact of its grant programs.
  • Standardizing measures across programs where appropriate.

This site will maintain tools and resources throughout the performance measure rollout to assist stakeholders in successfully incorporating the new measures into their work, beginning with the FY2022 Request for Application (RFA) cycle for each program. AMS can help grantees comply with this evaluation requirement, by covering the direct costs for program evaluation into grant application budgets.

From 2019-2020, the AMS Grants Division conducted a rigorous and objective evaluation of AMS’s grant programs in partnership with the State Departments of Agriculture and other stakeholders. This evaluation was the result of 2018 Farm Bill language directing AMS to evaluate the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program. AMS took the opportunity to expand this evaluation across multiple grant programs.

In addition to the 2018 Farm Bill direction, the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act, enacted in 2010, requires Federal agencies to set performance goals. Establishing processes to review recipient performance, show achievement of program goals and objectives, share lessons learned, improve program outcomes, and foster the adoption of promising practices is an overarching goal of the USDAs evidence-based approach to grants management. The updated grant performance measures provide information on measuring, reporting, and evaluating the performance of grants issued under the Agricultural Marketing Service’s (AMS). 

AMS plans to expand this listing of programs with revised performance measures. More information will be added to this page as materials are developed.

For more information, please email AMSGrants@usda.gov.

Resources