Southern SARE 2015-2016

Woman in field

As Georgia SARE co-coordinator, Julia Gaskin pursues initiatives on organic agriculture, local food systems, cover crops, soil quality and grazing-based animal production. Learn more about SARE in Georgia. Photo by Merritt Melancon, University of Georgia Extension

SARE may be small compared to other USDA grant programs, but it consistently has an impact out of proportion to its budget. One factor in SARE’s success is the high level of continued engagement researchers have with the program; researchers and Extension specialists routinely revisit SARE as a source of grant funding for sustainable agriculture projects.

In the Southern region, this relationship is best illustrated through the Graduate Student grant program. The grant was started in 2000 to give Master’s and PhD students the opportunity to conduct sustainable agriculture research projects. It has been a vehicle to apply for other SARE grants as students further their research careers.

In a brief snapshot of the history of the Graduate Student grant program, seven students who received a Southern SARE Graduate Student grant went on to become a primary investigator or participant in future Southern SARE grant projects, as researchers or Extension specialists. As professionals, these seven former graduate student grantees received a combined $2.7 million in funding from Southern SARE, a continued investment in the next generation of leaders in sustainable agriculture research.

Grants Awarded in the South

The following is a summary of SARE funding in the South. State-by-state grant data is also available. To learn about SARE-funded activities and opportunities in Southern states, visit our state program pages. Visit the projects database to search individual projects by type, topic, state and other criteria.

Grant Proposals and Awards, 2014-2015¹

Grant Type	Preproposals Received²	Full Proposals Invited	Full Proposals Received	Proposals Funded	Funding Total
Research and Education	153	48	43	11	$2.1 million
Professional Development	25	16	12	7	$842,141
Farmer/Rancher	N/A	N/A	96	13	$197,118
On-Farm Partnership	N/A	N/A	79	17	$339,928
Graduate Student	N/A	N/A	116	21	$186,484
¹The Southern region’s grant cycle is based on the year calls for proposals are released, whereas in other regions it is based on the year projects are funded. To parallel the other regions, the actual data used in this table reflects the South’s 2013-2014 funding cycle. ² The use of a preproposal process varies by region. It serves to screen project ideas for the larger and more complex grant programs, to reduce applicants’ proposal preparation burden and the proposal review burden for SARE’s volunteer reviewers.

Total Grants Awarded in the South, 1988-2015

Grant Type	Grants Awarded	Total Dollar Amount
Research and Education	267	$39.1 million
Professional Development	113	$7.8 million
Farmer/Rancher	276	$2.4 million
On-Farm Partnership	91	$1.2 million
Graduate Student	147	$1.4 million
Community Innovation	93	$1.1 million
Regional Total	987	$53 million

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