GRIFFIN, Georgia – The Call for Pre-proposals for the Southern SARE Professional Development Program (PDP) Grant is now open.
The Professional Development Program is a “train the trainer” program, providing funding to agricultural professionals to train Cooperative Extension agents, USDA field personnel, and other ag professionals and educators in areas of sustainable agriculture production practices. Training activities may include seminars, workshops, farm tours, on-farm demonstrations, or the marketing and distributing of training materials. Activities may take place in a single state, multiple states, or throughout the entire Southern region.
The deadline to submit a Pre-proposal is August 31, 2021 at 12 p.m. EST(Noon).
Pre-proposal applicants who are invited to submit a full proposal will be notified by email by October 2021. The deadline to submit a full proposal is November 15, 2021, and full proposals will be awarded in February 2022.
Download the Call for Proposal and carefully read the application instructions. All of the guidelines, program goals, review criteria, and the submission process to apply for a Southern SARE Professional Development Program Grant will be found within the Call for Proposal. Failure to follow the submission guidelines may result in the rejection of your proposal.
To be considered for funding a project must meet the following two criteria:
- Project outcomes must focus on developing sustainable agriculture systems or moving existing systems toward sustainability.
- A project’s central purpose must be to provide or enable training. Research projects and farmer-outreach or education projects do not qualify for this funding.
There’s no set amount of grant funding, but priority will be given to those less than $80,000, in order to fund a broad portfolio of projects. For more information on sustainable agriculture, visit the Southern SARE website.
Call for Pre-proposals are released in July. Selected pre-proposal candidates are invited to submit a full proposal in October with full proposals due in November.
Published by the Southern Region of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. Funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Southern SARE operates under cooperative agreements with the University of Georgia, Fort Valley State University, and the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture to offer competitive grants to advance sustainable agriculture in America's Southern region. This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, through Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.