NCR-SARE Announces 2010 Farmer Rancher Grant Call for Proposals

The 2010 North Central Region - Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (NCR-SARE) Farmer Rancher Grant Call for Proposals is now available.

Farmers and ranchers in the North Central Region are invited to submit grant proposals to explore sustainable agriculture solutions to problems on the farm or ranch. Proposals should show how farmers and ranchers plan to use their own innovative ideas to explore sustainable agriculture options and how they will share project results. Sustainable agriculture is good for the environment, profitable, and socially responsible.

Projects should emphasize research or education/demonstration. Grants can range from $6,000 for individual farmers up to $18,000 for groups of 3 or more farmers. NCR-SARE expects to fund about 50 projects in the twelve-state North Central Region with this call.

Interested applicants can find the call for proposals online as well as useful information for completing a proposal.

Proposals are due on Thursday, December 2, 2010 at 4:30 p.m. at the NCR-SARE office in Jefferson City, MO.

Potential applicants with questions can contact Joan Benjamin, Associate Regional Coordinator and Farmer Rancher Grant Program Coordinator, at 573-681-5545 or 800-529-1342. A hard copy or an emailed copy of the call for proposals is also available by contacting Joan Benjamin. We make slight revisions to our calls for proposals each year, which means it is crucial to use the most recent call for proposals.

NCR-SARE has funded more than 700 farmer rancher grants worth more than $4,300,000 since the inception of this program.

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. The Missouri State Sustainable Agriculture Co-Coordinators are KB Paul and Debi Kelly.

There will be 4 SARE Farmer/Rancher Grant Writing Workshops in October.  If you are thinking about submitting an application, you may want to attend one of the workshops.  Be on the lookout on this blog for more details about these upcoming workshops.

Oct 5 - Hillsboro
Oct 6 - Eldon
Oct 9 - Kansas City
TBD - Southwest Missouri