News Releases

The Southern Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Program is now accepting applications for grants for two programs.

Proposals for both the 2006 Southern Region SARE Producer grants and 2006 Southern Region SARE On-Farm Research grants are due by November 15, 2005.

The SARE Program in Tennessee recognizes the value and importance of on-farm producer experiences in developing solutions to agricultural marketing and production challenges.

Coordinating the SARE program for Tennessee are Roy Bullock, a small farms specialist with the Tennessee State University Cooperative Extension Program, and Clark Garland, an agricultural economist with University of Tennessee Extension. Both encourage producers to apply for the grants.

Garland said, "The proposals are very competitive, but last year Tennessee farmers were very successful in obtaining grants from within this region."

Southern SARE producer grants are only open to farmers and/or ranchers or producer organizations. Any farmer/rancher or producer organization in the U.S. Southern Region is eligible to apply. The grants have maximum awards of $10,000 for individual producers and $15,000 for producer organizations to be used within two years.

Southern SARE On-Farm Research Grants are open to Extension, NRCS and non-governmental organization (NGO) personnel who work with farmers. Applicants must work with at least one cooperating farmer or rancher and can apply for up to $15,000 to be used within two years. The on-farm research proposals will be accepted only through an online submission form, which can be found at http://www.southernsare.org

While all SARE proposals must encourage agricultural practices that are profitable, environmentally sound and good for rural communities, these two grant programs have identified certain broad focus areas. Proposals should address or be applicable to limited resource farmers; organic farming systems; environmentally sound practices/agricultural ecosystems; marketing/economic development; policy, program evaluation, and quality of life; women in sustainable agriculture; and research on components of sustainable systems.

The Southern Region is comprised of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Full information and instructions can be found on the Web at: http://www.southernsare.org

Interested producers may also contact Bullock at (615) 963-5449 or fbullock@tnstate.edu or Garland at (865) 974-7412 or cgarland@utk.edu.

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Contacts:
Roy Bullock, (615) 963-5449 or fbullock@tnstate.edu
Clark Garland, (865) 974-7412 or cgarland@utk.edu