Northeast SARE Partnership Grants Fund Work with Farmers

The Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Program has released the call for applications for its 2019 Partnership Grant Program.  

The grant program funds projects conducted by researchers, educators, nonprofit staff and other agricultural service providers working in direct partnership with farmers. Fundable projects seek innovative solutions to current challenges to the health of Northeast agriculture or to strengthen working partnerships between farmers and agricultural service providers to advance sustainable agriculture. 

Proposals are due online by 5 p.m. ET on April 23. Application materials, including detailed instructions and supporting documents, are posted on the Northeast SARE website at www.northeastsare.org/partnershipgrant.  

A webinar explaining the grant program is scheduled for March 21 at noon. Register at go.uvm.edu/nesarepgwebinar to participate or visit the Northeast SARE website to view the recording after that date.

Partnership Grants may be used for research to improve production practices, marketing approaches and farmer, farm worker or community well-being. They also may be used for education and training programs to enhance decision-making about sustainable practices; for on-farm or in-market demonstrations of new techniques; or to develop new farm management and community development approaches. Projects must be conducted in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, D.C. or West Virginia. 

The grants are capped at $30,000. While smaller, one-year projects are encouraged, proposals that justify the need for a more robust budget will be considered, particularly if projects enlist multi-institution or multi-disciplinary collaboration, explore more complex subject matter or take longer to document results or changes.  

Questions about the program should be directed to grant coordinator Carol Delaney at (802) 651-8335 or northeastsare@uvm.edu.   

Northeast SARE is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture and hosted within University of Vermont Extension.