GRIFFIN, Georgia – The Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SSARE) program has awarded its 2020 Professional Development Program Grants – train-the-trainer grants for ag educators and ag professionals to develop sustainable agriculture education and outreach strategies.
Funded projects, totaling $609,673, include:
ES20-151 Beekeeping Curriculum and Training for Texas Agricultural Extension Agents and 4-H Youth Leaders, $79,516, AgriLogic Consulting, LLC, Texas, Nicole Gueck, ngueck@agrilogic.com
ES20-152 Soil Nutrient Management in Tropical Soils, $69,335, University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, Daniel Bair, daniel.bair@upr.edu
ES20-153 Improving Conservation Practices and Soil Health in Sweet Potato through Cover-It-Up, $62,990, Mississippi State University, Bill Burdine, bill.burdine@msstate.edu
ES20-154 Demystifying Regenerative Grazing and Soil Health, $79,866, National Center for Appropriate Technology, Arkansas, Nina Prater, ninap@ncat.org
ES20-155 Utilizing Insect and Irrigation Monitoring to Enhance Sustainable Vegetable Production: Extension educator training for Arkansas, $69,328, University of Arkansas, Aaron Cato, acato@uaex.edu
ES20-156 Meat Chemistry and Cuisine: Using a proven method to train extension agents and other professionals serving small-scale and limited-resource producers, $80,805, Mississippi State University, Derris Burnett, Dbd362@msstate.edu
ES20-157 Advancing Professional Development in the U.S. Virgin Islands about the Cooperative Business Model: A training and mentorship program, $87,833, University of Virgin Islands, Louis Petersen, Louis.petersen@live.uvi.edu
ES20-158 Helping Agricultural Professionals and Mentoring Farmers to Train Previously Unreached Farmers about Sustainable Agriculture, $80,000, Kentucky State University, Cynthia Rice, Cynthia.rice@kysu.edu
Southern SARE’s Professional Development Program Grants fund activities that educate ag professionals in up-to-date sustainable ag strategies and technologies to help farmers and ranchers increase profits and lessen environmental impacts. There is no funding cap for projects. To fund a broad portfolio of projects, priority is given to those with funding of less than $80,000. Professional Development Program Grants fund training activities that may include seminars, workshops, farm tours, on-farm demonstrations, or the development, marketing and distribution of training materials. Activities may take place in a single state, multiple states, or throughout the entire Southern region.
The Professional Development Program Grant Call for Pre-proposals is released in July. Selected pre-proposals are invited to submit full proposals in October with funding announced February the following year. Projects are generally for two years.
For more information about Professional Development Program Grants, visit https://southern.sare.org.
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.