NCR-SARE Announces 2021 Call for Partnership Grant Proposals

The 2021 North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (NCR-SARE) Partnership Grant Program Call for Proposals is now available online at Program.https://www.northcentralsare.org/Grants/Apply-for-a-Grant/Partnership-Grant.

NCR-SARE’s Partnership Grant program is intended to foster cooperation between agriculture professionals and small groups of farmers and ranchers to catalyze on-farm research, demonstration, and education activities related to sustainable agriculture.

Individual grants are limited to $40,000. NCR-SARE expects to fund about 14 projects in the twelve-state North Central Region with this call. A total of approximately $560,000 is available for this program.
NCR-SARE will be accepting online submissions for the Partnership Grant Program. More information about the online submission system can be found in the call for proposals. The deadline for Partnership Program proposals is October 22, 2020 at 4pm CDT.

NCR-SARE administers each of its grant programs with specific goals, audiences, and timelines. Funding considerations are based on how well the applicant presents the problem being addressed, its relevance to sustainable agriculture in the 12-state North Central region, farmer-rancher engagement in the project, and how well it aligns with NCR-SARE’s goals.

Funding decisions are made by a regional Administrative Council (AC), with review from a Technical Committee. The Administrative Council is a collection of producers, university representatives, nonprofit group interests, Extension and NRCS people, other government employees, and agribusiness representatives. This group sets research priorities and recommends projects for funding.

Each state in SARE’s North Central Region has one or more State Sustainable Agriculture Coordinators who can provide information and assistance to potential grant applicants. Interested applicants can find their State Sustainable Agriculture Coordinator online at http://www.northcentralsare.org/State-Programs.

For questions or additional information regarding the Partnership Grant Program, contact Beth Nelson or Rob Myers at bethnelson@umn.edu or myersrob@missouri.edu.

Farmer and Kansas State University Extension educator, Tom Buller (far right), received an NCR-SARE Partnership Program grant in 2018 to work with vegetable producers on minimal tillage techniques for managing weeds. Buller noted that the research information from this grant led to another grant to share information about weed control.

“The NCR-SARE Partnership grant created lasting interactions between local farmers and K-State Research and Extension to help with weed management in vegetable production systems.”
– Tom Buller.

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