Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SARE)
The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) (
https://www.sare.org/) program is a decentralized competitive grants and education program operating in every state and island protectorate. Funded by the United States Department of Agriculture's
National Institute for Food and Agriculture, the program is run by
four regions (
North Central,
Northeast,
South and
West) hosted by land-grant institutions.
SARE Outreach provides communication and technical support at the national level.
West Virginia belongs to the Northeast region (
https://www.northeastsare.org) along with Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, D.C.
2024 Calls for Proposals Now Available for Northeast SARE Farmer Grants
The Call for 2024 Farmer Grant Proposals is now available at:
https://northeast.sare.org/grants/get-a-grant/farmer-grant-program/. Approximately $800,000 has been allocated to fund projects for this grant cycle. Awards of up to $30,000 are available, depending on the complexity of a project. The online system for submitting proposals is
open. Proposals are due no later than 5:00 p.m. EST on November 14, 2023.
Northeast SARE Farmer Grants provide the resources farmers need to explore new concepts in sustainable agriculture conducted through experiments, surveys, prototypes, on-farm demonstrations or other research and education techniques. Projects address issues that affect farming with long-term sustainability in mind.
Northeast SARE Farmer Grant Administrator Candice Huber will be hosting a series of drop-in Q&A sessions from Noon to 1 p.m. EST on Wednesdays in October to answer any questions potential grantees have about their 2024 Farmer Grant proposals.
Click here to register to participate in any of the Q&A sessions from noon to 1 p.m. on October 4,11,18, or 25. You do not need to submit a question ahead of time to participate in any of the Q&A sessions, but you will need to register. Registration grants access to any of the Q&A sessions.
Attending a session is not required to submit questions. Questions can be submitted at any time here and we will reply to you directly with an answer. This page will be updated with answers and recordings of the sessions.
If you have a question about your grant proposal that you would like to keep confidential, contact Farmer Grant Administrator Candice Huber at candice.huber@uvm.edu.
The SARE Grant Management System (projects.sare.org) is for more than proposals, it’s a powerful tool grantees use throughout their projects, feel free to click around and get comfortable. Don’t wait to submit your proposal. You can unsubmit, edit, and resubmit as many times as you need.
A video by Northeast SARE Communications Specialist Vander Gac explains how to complete the Budget Justification and Narrative Template required for a 2024 Northeast SARE Farmer Grant Proposal is also available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaYmb0f9GCU
Farmer Grants are designed to be a strong starting point for farmers interested in pursuing grant funding for projects. Before starting their proposals, potential candidates identify a Technical Advisor who can provide non-farming expertise in areas such as research design, troubleshooting, and promotion.
The Technical Advisor acts as a go-to support person throughout the grant project, making it easier on first time grantees and forging new relationships in agricultural communities across the Northeast.
Northeast SARE funds projects in a wide variety of topics, including marketing and business, crop production, raising livestock, aquaculture, social sustainability, climate-smart agriculture practices, urban and Indigenous agriculture and more.
The Farmer Grant program is driven by the Northeast SARE Outcome Statement:
“Northeast agricultural communities honor the holistic connection among land, water, air, and all living beings. Agriculture in the Northeast is accessible, sustainable, and just, addressing historic and current inequities so all farmers and farm employees can steward resources to ensure sustainability, resilience, economic viability, and a high quality of life.”
Sign up for our mailing list to stay up-to-date on grant information
northeast.sare.org/news/join-our-mailing-list/
Northeast SARE’s Administrative Council has
approved a one-year pause in five of our seven regional grant programs. The purpose of the pause is to increase our capacity to work on implementation of Northeast SARE's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) strategic plan. Thus, while Northeast SARE offers a number of
grant programs to farmers, educators, researchers, nonprofits, and others who work with farmers we only have a few open this year. You can also search
SARE's national database for grant project results.
NE SARE defines a "farm" based on the U.S. Census of Agriculture “Any place from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the census year.” For additional details see Northeast SARE's Definition of a Farm.
While the program operates regionally, state programs deliver train-the-trainer programs locally and provide outreach in each Northeast state. West Virginia has two state coordinators, Barbara Liedl at West Virginia State University and Doolarie Singh-Knights at WVU.