ASG Department Of Agriculture

ASG Department Of Agriculture is a U.S. local government entity based in Tafuna, American Samoa, that acts as the recipient of federal block grants and cooperative agreements from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to support specialty crop competitiveness, food security, and agricultural development across American Samoa's territory. The entity does not compete for federal contracts and operates exclusively as a prime grant recipient with no subcontract activity.

ASG Department Of Agriculture's federal footprint consists entirely of grant awards from two USDA agencies. The Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has issued 15 awards under two primary federal grant programs: the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (CFDA 10.170), which accounts for the majority of recent awards, and the Micro-Grants for Food Security Program (CFDA 10.179). Representative awards include a $264,016.96 Specialty Crop Block Grant awarded September 30, 2025, running through September 29, 2028, focused on food safety and specialty crop competitiveness; a $268,967.57 Specialty Crop Block Grant from September 30, 2024, through September 29, 2027; and a $133,002.50 Micro-Grants for Food Security award from September 30, 2021, through September 29, 2025, aimed at expanding locally grown food production in food-insecure American Samoa communities. AMS awards support marketing and promotion of specialty crops, research and development assistance to local producers, expanded access to specialty crop distribution channels, and solutions addressing production challenges. A single cooperative agreement from May 25, 2023, through May 24, 2027, supports American Samoa's Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program. One outlier award—a $0 project grant from the Department of Health and Human Services' Institute of Youth, Family, and Community (September 1, 2021, through August 31, 2022)—funded a Farmers Assistance & Resource Management Stress & Suicide (FARMS & SUP²) helpline to address mental health issues within American Samoa's agricultural communities.

Concentration is extreme: AMS accounts for 15 of 17 awards (88% by count). Activity has declined markedly from 2021's four awards to one award per year in 2022–2025. Combined obligated dollars across all seventeen awards total $7.1 million. As a territorial government entity, ASG Department Of Agriculture operates outside federal contracting set-asides and competes for no federal contracts.