GRIFFIN, Georgia -- The Southern region of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program has released its Call for Proposals for the 2025 Education Grants program.
Education Grants are open to academic institutions and organizations, such as nonprofits and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), who are interested in conducting education and outreach activities for the benefit of the greater sustainable ag community, and promote efforts in farmer innovations, community resilience, business success, agricultural diversification, and best management practices. Non-governmental organizations and 1890 land-grant university faculty/extension cooperators are especially encouraged to apply for this grant for their education and outreach activities.
SSARE also considers proposals from organizations/institutions whose projects involve indigenous farmer cooperators who produce for community food systems. These enterprises may be an eligible farmer cooperator where the production activity has an annual value of at least $1,000, but products are not sold due to cultural factors.
Education-based grants are different than the Professional Development Program Grant -- Southern SARE’s other education-based grant program. PDP grants are train-the-trainer grants designed for ag professionals to conduct sustainable ag education and outreach activities for the benefit of fellow colleagues.
Education proposals allow applicants to focus on educational activities, in which their cooperating partners and intended audiences would be involved. Education proposals provide a synopsis of the proposed educational approach to mitigate or solve a problem and encourage farmer adoption of recommended practices or strategies. SSARE is looking for Education proposals of around $50,000.
Examples of Education Grant projects can include one or more of the following, but are not limited to:
- Experiential (Demonstrations, on-farm tours, field days, workshops, trainings, case studies);
- Integrative (Conferences, seminars, course curriculum)
- Reinforcement (Fact sheets, bulletins, books, manuals, videos, online technologies, guidebooks)
You may find the Call for Proposals on the Southern SARE website. Download the Call to follow the guidelines for writing and submitting the grant application. The deadline for submitting proposals is August 2, 2024 at 12 p.m. (noon) EST. Grants will be announced in February of 2025. Projects begin April 1, 2025.
The objective of the SARE program is to enable farmers and ranchers to move profitably toward production systems compatible with the goal of sustainable agriculture, including promoting good land stewardship, protecting the health and safety of people and animals, enhancing quality of life, and strengthening rural communities.
For more information on research and education projects, completed or ongoing, search the national SARE database.
For more information on sustainable agriculture, visit the Southern SARE website at 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.