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Research and Education Grants
Research and Education Grants encourage a multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary systems approach to agricultural research.
What is Sustainable Agriculture?
Southern SARE’s Research and Education Grants are the flagship grants of the program. They were the first grants offered when the program was launched in 1988, and were the only sustainable ag grants available to researchers and educators until additional grant programs were added to SSARE in 1994. Research and Education Grants encourage a multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary systems approach to agricultural research.
Research grants are research-based projects with required farmer collaboration, and an educational/outreach component to extend the project findings to the public.
Proposed projects must focus on Southern SARE’s program objectives in developing sustainable agriculture systems or moving existing farming systems toward sustainability, as defined by Congress in the 1990 Farm Bill.
A simple way to think about sustainable agriculture is that it involves producing enough food and fiber to satisfy today’s needs without compromising the ability of future generations to do the same. Sustainability as defined by the SARE program embraces three common goals (or pillars of sustainability):
- Profit over the long term;
- Stewardship of our nation’s land, air and water;
- Quality of life for farmers, ranchers, farm employees and our communities.
What is Systems Research?
Research and Education Grants are competitive research grants for teams of interdisciplinary researchers that encourage a systems approach in sustainable agriculture.
Most agricultural field research is component research – analyzing a part of a system in isolation to the other system’s components to seek a solution to one problem. While good information has been gained from well-conducted component research, one of the shortcomings of a component view is that sometimes a solution to a problem creates new problems to be solved. In addition, component research provides results that often only offer short-term solutions to long-term problems.
As researchers dig deeper into the impacts of component research on other parts of the system, the research agenda is becoming more complex. With this complexity in mind, systems research is becoming more important to addressing the questions and finding the methods needed for a more balanced, long-term sustainable agricultural system. Systems research provides the opportunity to probe the interrelationships of all parts of a system in a long-term environment to answer questions related to profitability, environmental stewardship and community quality of life as the system changes over a long period of time.
Eligibility Requirements
Research and Education Grants involve a pre-proposals and full proposal application process. Applicants whose pre-proposals are selected will be invited to submit a full proposal.
Research and Education Grant proposals must meet the following basic requirements in order to be considered for funding:
- Project must be relevant to sustainable agriculture and outcomes must focus on developing sustainable agriculture systems or moving existing systems toward sustainable agriculture. Proposed projects must focus on Southern SARE’s program objectives in developing sustainable agriculture systems or moving existing farming systems toward sustainability, as defined by Congress in the 1990 Farm Bill. Applicants specifically should be aware of this definition, as proposals will be reviewed with this legal definition in mind.
- Projects must involve a systems research approach to sustainable agriculture.
- Per USDA-NIFA, proposals must not promote, support, or take part in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives or any other initiatives that discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or other protected characteristic.
- Emphasis in Research and Education Grants is placed on farmer participation. At least three (3) cooperating farmers must be involved in the project, each with a unique and detailed role. For farmers involved in your project, the primary occupation is farming/ranching or part-time farming. Producers run their farm alone or with family or partners and have a least $1,000 of documented annual income from the operation, as defined by USDA.
- The project’s central purpose must be research-based with an educational/outreach component to extend the project findings to the public, with specific applicability for and potential adoption by farmers.
- Projects must involve a holistic approach to sustainable agriculture, covering the three pillars of sustainability: farmer profit, environmental stewardship, and community quality of life.
- Social science projects are welcomed and encouraged.
Research & Education Grants are systems research projects, focusing on how component systems interrelate, integrate, and impact one another to make the whole system more sustainable. Submitted projects should focus on more than one component system, cover all three pillars of sustainability, and involve multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary researchers.
Who Can Apply?
Researchers (tenured faculty, early career professionals, postdocs) from public and private institutions, including land-grant universities and institutions outside the Land-Grant system; government agencies; non-governmental organizations; agribusinesses; individuals, such as independent scientists or ag consultants are invited to apply for Research and Education Grants.
General Guidelines for Pre-proposal Submission
Research and Education Grant pre-proposals include the following format:
- Basic Information: This includes such information as project title, principal investigator information, any co-principal investigators, institutional administrative contact, institutional financial contact, cooperating institutions receiving funding, project timetable, and state where most of the work will be conducted. Proposals also require at least three (3) farmer cooperators who have a detailed and unique role in the project.
- Project Information: This include project abstract, project relevance to sustainability, a statement of the problem, a description of the farming system, project objectives and experimental design, and a list of cited literature.
- Funding Request: An estimation of the total funding request, including budgets for cooperating institutions and cooperating farmers. If invited to submit a full proposal, a full, itemized budget will be required at the full proposal stage.
General Guidelines for Full Proposal Submission
Research and Education Grant full proposals include the same proposal format found in the pre-proposal, but require more detail, specifically related to the project information.
Full proposals also require information related to the outreach plan, and a process for evaluating project processes and outcomes.
In the full proposal, a detailed and itemized budget is required, including a justification for each budget category that explains why each cost in the budget is needed to complete the project goals/activities.
Farmer cooperators should be appropriately compensated or a justification should be provided that explains the lack of farmer compensation. This explanation should be provided
in the funding request. If you are invited to submit a full proposal, you will be asked to explain how much individual farmer cooperators are being paid and for what project duties.
Among other criteria, proposals are evaluated based on the level of farmer involvement and appropriateness of compensation.
Funding Amount
Research and Education Grant project maximums are $400,000, limited to three (3) years.
USDA-NIFA allows for recovery of indirect costs.
Research and Education Grant funds are paid by reimbursement of allowable project expenses. Advance payments are not possible. Before applying, be sure your institution/organization has both the financial and resource capacity to effectively manage a Research and Education Grant project.
Allowable Expenses
Research and Education Grant funds may be used for the following purposes:
- Salary of lead institution personnel. The amount requested must remain within the scope of the project and be a reasonable salary request.
- Hiring labor needed to effectively conduct and complete the project within the proposed timetable. This should include farmer/rancher compensation.
- Costs of sampling and sample analysis. This can include in-field data collection or lab data analysis.
- Renting equipment needed for the project. The rental must not extend beyond the project’s timetable. Equipment purchases are allowable, but the applicant must demonstrate a strong justification as to why the equipment is needed for the project. Equipment becomes the property of the institution/organization after the project ends.
- Livestock/bees only if the institution/organization does not already have the animals to use for the research project. The animals become the property of the institution/organization after the project ends.
- Materials and supplies needed for the project. The materials and supplies must remain within the scope of the project and be a reasonable request relative to the research being conducted.
- Travel needed for the project, which can include lodging, mileage and meals. The travel must relate to the project’s goals/activities.
- Costs of computers needed to carry out project research. A strong justification must be included.
- Expenses related to the project’s outreach plan. The educational materials developed for the outreach plan must remain within the scope of the work and be a reasonable request.
- Refreshments at outreach events, such as workshops or field days. You must demonstrate that providing refreshments is necessary to effectively execute your outreach plan and provide educational continuation of the outreach efforts.
- Other direct costs not included in budget narrative categories. This can include speaker fees, consultations, fee for services, service contracts, etc.
Non-allowable Expenses
Research and Education Grant funds cannot be used for the following purposes:
- Starting a farm, NGO, business or other community organization, or expanding an existing farm, NGO, business or other community organization.
- Providing any kind of financial support relative to the general operation of the farm, NGO, business of community organization.
- Providing support of any kind for capital investments or permanent farm improvements, including: purchasing permanent greenhouses, high tunnels or other buildings; purchasing permanent irrigation; building a pond; purchasing and installing water containment tanks; purchasing permanent fencing; planting an orchard; or purchasing crops or crop seed for use beyond the research plots and timetable of the project.
- Breakfasts, lunches or other full meals for the project’s outreach plan, or educational/resource event or program.
- Any costs incurred for producing grant-required annual and final project reports.
- Testing of commercial products. Products must be explored in broad generalizations.
- Participant incentives (payment must be related to work performed on the project). Encouraging participation, fellowship or gathering as a justification does not meet the guidelines.
- International travel.
- Tuition.
Grant Writing Tips
Southern SARE Research and Education Grants are competitive. Each year we receive more grant proposals than we have monies to award funding. Here are some suggestions that might aid in strengthening your proposal:
- Follow the instructions in the Call for Proposal. Failure to follow directions or omit any required information will result in your proposal being rejected.
- Make sure SARE is the right granting organization for your project. Review the proposal guidelines, priority areas, and evaluation criteria in the proposal. Every year we receive a number of well-written, well-designed proposals that don’t clearly address the SARE program’s unique goals and criteria.
- Thoroughly research your project before applying. You may have a great idea for a project, but the research related to the topic may already be well established. We look for projects that are new, innovative, generate results that are useful beyond one year and produce information that many farmers can use.
- Involve farmers, growers, ranchers and other end-users in the planning, design and implementation of your project.
- Collaborate with other researchers, farmers, or organizations on your project. To be successful, projects should involve a variety of disciplines and areas of skills of expertise.
- Look beyond state lines. Strengthen your proposal by addressing issues that are relevant in several states or regionally, rather than just one state, or a niche area.
- Successful projects include clear goals and objectives. Make sure the methods are appropriate to accomplish your goals. If the project involves experimentation, are plot sizes, replications, and controls adequate to providing meaningful information? Be sure to consult with a statistician in developing your experimental design. Your team should have both the background and the expertise to carry out the proposed project.
- Make sure you include an outreach plan, and have a process in place for evaluating your results.
- Clearly outline the activities of your training program and discuss how the activities proposed will reach the target audience and achieve your objectives.
- Don’t wait until the last minute to begin your proposal and to submit it to the SARE Grants Management online system. The deadline for proposal submissions is firm. Anticipate technological glitches, budget issues, user error or other issues that might cause delays.
- Be clear on the “what”, “why”, and “who cares” of your research project and how it pertains to sustainable agriculture. This is your “hook” for reviewers. Remember, they get to know you through your proposal. Be sure they understand the importance of your project.
- Avoid jargon and spell out fulls names of acronyms.
- Have a colleague proofread your proposal to identify errors, omissions, or sections that seem unclear.
How Your Pre-proposal Will Be Reviewed
The full Administrative Council (the governing body of Southern SARE) is involved in screening pre-proposals at the close of the pre-proposal grant deadline. All pre-proposals are reviewed by four Administrative Council members who vote on whether or not a pre-proposal should move forward to the full proposal stage.
Full proposal invite is based on the following review criteria:
- A Systems Approach to Sustainable Agriculture: The pre-proposal demonstrates a whole systems approach to sustainable agriculture, focusing on more than one component system and including SARE’s three pillars of sustainability.
- Project Relevance to Sustainable Agriculture: The pre-proposal focuses on sustainable agricultural systems and makes a clear, well-thought case of either making existing systems more sustainable, or creates a new and innovative method for sustainability. The project meets SARE goals of sustainable agriculture.
- Multi-institutional/Multi-disciplinary Collaborations: The pre-proposal includes meaningful multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary collaborations with their roles in the project relevant to the three pillars of sustainability.
- Farmer Participation: The project includes the required number of farmer collaborators with direct and meaningful involvement in the project. Farmer roles in the project are clear.
- Appropriate Research-based Project Design/Methods with an Educational/Outreach Component: The Approaches and Methods are clear and reasonable and are capable of meeting the objectives. The project design is realistic based on the timeline, with regional and/or national adaptability of the findings and outcomes of the project. An educational component is included with usable findings by farmers/ranchers and other intended audiences.
- Objectives: The pre-proposal includes clear objectives that indicate a systems approach to the research.
Each criteria is scored on a scale of One to Four (1-4) with the scores averaged for a final score. Each pre-proposal is scored as described:
- Four (4): High Priority. Invite for Full Proposal: Pre-Proposal meets the mission/vision of the SARE program, addresses SARE’s three pillars of sustainability, and fulfills the review criteria. Pre-Proposal requirements are met and addresses a topic of need with a unique, innovative, sustainable ag solution.
- Three (3): May Be Invited for Full Proposal But Not as Strong as High Priority Pre-Proposals: Pre-Proposals are not as strong as high priority pre-proposals, but there are elements that might make them worth seeing again. Pre-Proposal meets the mission/vision of the SARE program, pertains to sustainable agriculture, and fulfills the review criteria. Improvements are evident before they go through a technical review.
- Two (2): Revise and Resubmit: Proposal meets the mission/vision of the SARE program and pertains to sustainable agriculture, but there are sections of the proposal that don’t fulfill review criteria or not all requirements of Call for Proposals have been met. Applicant is encouraged to Revise and Resubmit for the next grant cycle per the Administrative Council reviewer’s comments to strengthen the proposal.
- One (1). Do Not Invite for Full Proposal: Proposal does not fit into the grant program applied for; proposal does not meet the mission/vision of the SARE program; does not pertain to sustainable agriculture; and/or does not meet the requirements of the Call for Proposals.
A brief written explanation is also included in the review process. Based on this final score and the comments, the Administrative Council makes a recommendation to invite pre-proposal applicants to submit a full proposal.
After the full Administrative Council makes its recommendation on the pre-proposals, the Project Review Committee, a subcommittee of the full Administrative Council, meets to discuss which pre-proposals to invite for full proposals based on the scores, comments, and recommendations put forth by the Administrative Council. The purpose of this review step is to ensure that pre-proposals recommended to submit a full proposal meet the conceptual requirements of the program and are technically feasible. It is at this time that final selections are made and are presented for a vote at the winter Administrative Council meeting.
Applicants will not be given a full review of their proposal at the pre-proposal stage. At this pre-proposal stage, it is not the intent to conduct a full review with comments. This stage is to identify those projects the Administrative Council wishes to explore more fully. Comprehensive reviews are undertaken at the full proposal stage.
Those invited to submit a full proposal will be notified via email in August following the summer Administrative Council meeting. At that time, specific directions will be given regarding submission and review procedures for full proposals. Full proposals will be required to be much more in depth, longer and require much more detail than the pre-proposals. Full proposals are due in November.
How Your Full Proposal Will Be Reviewed
The Research and Education Grant full proposals are reviewed based on a weighted scoring criteria. Upon closure of the grant deadline, proposals receive a technical review by three outside technical reviewers across the Southern region with expertise in a wide range of sustainable agriculture research areas. Technical reviewers are assigned to proposals based on their expertise area.
Technical reviewers score and comment on proposals based on the following review criteria:
- Reviewing the Ability of Project Investigators and Major Participants to Achieve Stated Goals to determine if the investigators are qualified to conduct the proposed project. Are the roles of all investigators and participants adequately defined and appropriate?
- Reviewing to determine if farmers (minimum three farmer cooperators), multiple and diverse institutions, community organizations, and interdisciplinary approaches are meaningfully and functionally integrated into the research and education plan. Does the proposal have a realistic plan for assembling an appropriate team of participants and devising an effective team strategy for successful project outcomes?
- Determining if the project demonstrates a whole systems approach to sustainable agriculture, and incorporates the three pillars of sustainability: profit, people, places.
- Reviewing the Statement of Problem, Rationale and Significance to determine if project goals can be attained and how the project outcomes contribute to sustainable agriculture and the priorities of Southern SARE.
- Reviewing the Objectives to ensure that they can realistically be completed within the proposed time frame, and project goals are feasible to obtain by the methods stated.
- Reviewing the Approaches and Methods to determine if the project experiment is clear, well designed and thought out so that useful and applicable results can be obtained. Are the proposed methods and experimental design adequate to meet project objectives? Are they technically sound?
- Determining the effectiveness of the outreach plan. Project results should have specific applicability for farmers and be presented in a way that could be adopted or implemented. Is the outreach plan well thought out and a benefit to its intended audience? Are the methods for implementing the outreach plan the most effective way of reaching farmers and ranchers?
- Reviewing the assessment plan of Evaluation and Impact to determine if it’s an integral part of the development of each objective and is evident in conducting the project. How will the benefits be measured? How do farmers benefit from the project? What is the environmental benefit of the project? What are the potential economic and social benefits of the project?
- Evaluating the project’s budget to determine if the requested amount is reasonable and realistic, and is clear on what the funds will be spent on. Are the requested funds allowable? Are budget items itemized with clear descriptions on how they will be used in the project?
Once the technical reviewers complete their reviews, the Project Review Committee of Southern SARE’s Administrative Council (Southern SARE’s governing body) reviews the high scoring proposals and meets virtually to discuss fundable proposals. The Project Review Committee convenes at the winter Administrative Council (AC) meeting to finalize selections. Those are then recommended to the full Administrative Council and voted on for funding.
By late February or early March you will be contacted regarding the status of your proposal, and a summary of the review comments for your proposal will be provided to you.
Expectations for Pre-proposals Invited to Submit Full Proposals
If the Southern SARE Administrative Council selects your pre-proposal to be submited for a full proposal, you will expect the following:
Notification: Southern SARE invites Research and Education Grant pre-proposals during its summer Administrative Council meeting. Applicants will be notified via email soon after regarding the status of their project and whether they have been invited to submit a full proposal.
Full Proposal Submission: Applicants invited to submit a full proposal will receive an email with the full Call for Proposals and Budget Checklist, and a link to access the full Call for Propoals in the SARE Grant Management System. If revisions to the proposal are needed, per reviewer comments, applicants should take this time to make those corrections in the full Call for Proposals. Applicants should also make sure they have at least three farmer cooperators confirmed to participate in their project. Most of the information in the pre-proposals is autopopulated in the full Call for Proposals in the online system, allowing applicants to make edits as needed.
Expectations for Funded Full Proposals
If the Southern SARE Administrative Council selects your full proposal for funding, you will expect the following:
Notification: Southern SARE selects Research and Education Grant proposals during its winter Administrative Council meeting February of each year. Applicants will be notified via email soon after regarding the status of their project. All projects officially start April 1.
Budget Reviews and Contracting: Proposals selected for funding will undergo a budget review by Southern SARE. Any revisions or changes will be made prior to the proposal sent to University of Georgia (Southern SARE’s host instituion) for contracting. Applicants will receive a subaward agreement by University of Georgia via email for signature. Once signed, the project is officially executed.
Invoicing: All project expenses are paid on a reimbursement basis. Applicants will receive an invoice template and be required to submit receipts and invoices during the course of their grant project to be reimbursed for their expenses.
Required Reporting: Research and Education Grant recipients are required to submit an annual report each year their project is active, detailing the progress of their research. In the year the project ends, recipients are required to submit a final report, documenting their findings, outreach, and project impacts. Reports are submitted online to the SARE Grant Management System. Southern SARE will hold the final invoice submitted for reimbursement until the final report is submitted and approved. Read more about Southern SARE’s Reporting Requirements.
Grant Management Support: Southern SARE staff is available throughout the life of the project to assist recipients on questions or issues related to their grant project. Management guidelines are available for PI changes, budget modifications, and no-cost extensions. Read more about Southern SARE’s accounting and management guidelines.
Acknowledging Funding: As Southern SARE grantees work on their outreach plans and develop project products related to their grant, they are required by USDA-NIFA to acknowledge SARE funding in the materials that are developed. Read more about Southern SARE’s guidelines for acknowledging funding.