Southern SARE: 2021 Producer Grant Call for Proposals

Amount Funded: Individual Farmers, $15,000; Farmer Groups, $20,000

For a one-year or a two-year project

Proposal submission deadline: November 13, 2020 at 12 p.m. EST

Online submission link: https://projects.sare.org/proposals/create/#/form/691737

Read more about the requirements for Producer Grants before applying. Questions should be directed to the grant manager, Candace Pollock-Moore at cpollock@uga.edu or call 770-412-4786.

Introduction 

Southern SARE recognizes the value and importance of on-farm, producer experiences in developing solutions to agricultural production problems. Producer Grants give farmers and ranchers the opportunity to conduct their own research projects to develop sustainable production and marketing practices.

The goal of the Producer Grant Program is simple: Allow farmers to test, on a small scale, an idea, practice or technology to a production or marketing problem (either as an individual or as a group), evaluate whether the results sustainably address the problem, and share how those efforts can benefit other farmers. Successful projects can then be tested by the farmer applicant or by others on a larger scale.

Producer Grants are research grants. Grant funds cannot be used to pay a farmer to farm, fund operating expenses, or conduct any other kind of farm business.

Grant funds are paid by reimbursement of allowable project expenses.

Who Can Apply

Producer Grants are open to individual full-time or part-time farmers and ranchers or farmer organizations such as cooperatives.

Projects must be developed, coordinated and conducted by farmers and/or ranchers or a farmer organization. Farmers must have at least $1,000 in documented annual income from the operation. There is no restriction on farm size or the length of time an individual has been farming.

Farmer organizations must be comprised primarily of farmers/ranchers and must have majority farmer representation on their governing boards.

Applicants must complete a proposal describing their project and explaining how it will help other farmers or ranchers understand and adopt sustainable agriculture practices. 

Southern SARE accepts proposals from applicants in the Southern region: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. University of Georgia employees are not eligible to apply for Southern SARE Producer Grants.