The Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education is inviting applications for its Graduate Student Grant Program that recognize the value and importance of sustainable agriculture research contributions from graduate students as they pursue their professional careers.
Donor Name: Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education
State: Selected States
County: All Counties
Territory: Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 05/12/2023
Size of the Grant: Up to $16,500
Grant Duration: 2 years
Details:
Graduate Student Grants allow Master’s and PhD students at accredited institutions across the Southern region to conduct research projects on a wide variety of sustainable agriculture production, marketing and social science topics.
Focus Areas
- Beneficial Insect Habitat: Developing cover crops or other plant mixes and locations to provide habitat (refuges) that keep populations of native beneficial insects living on the farm ready to attack crop pests as they occur.
- Alternative Crops/Animals: Developing alternative crops, animals or products that help a producer’s operation become more economically sustainable. These projects must be at least as environmentally sustainable as the existing crops, animals or products they supplement or replace.
- Organic Agriculture: Projects that address the production, distribution, marketing and consumption of organic farm products. This includes farmers adding value to organic products, and research into farming systems and practices that make use of on-farm biological cycles for soil, plant and pest management are accepted.
- Sustainable Marketing Projects: Developing markets for existing or alternative crops, animals or products.
- Sustainable Grazing Systems: Use of native grass species and/or plant or animal management systems to make grazing systems more sustainable.
- Soil Organic Matter Building/Protection/Management: Projects that increase the sustainability of farming systems by developing soil organic matter and soil biota.
- Natural Resources/Conservation/Water Quality: Projects that increase the sustainability of farming systems using methods that support natural resources, enhance environmental conservation or improve water quality.
- Increasing Sustainability of Existing Farming Practices: Any practice or system that increases the sustainability of an existing farming practice. The results should be able to be used by other farmers.
- Appropriate Technology: Projects that support agricultural technology, or develop a device or piece of machinery that promotes sustainable agriculture and can’t be purchased off the shelf. The device or machinery must have application for farmers/ranchers, be able to be built by them and enable them to operate more sustainably.
- Agroforestry: Projects that demonstrate and quantify the feasibility of establishing agroforestry in the region.
- Socio-economic/Community: Projects pertaining to impacts of sustainable agriculture in rural and urban communities in the social sciences realm. This can include topics from such disciplines as economics, sociology, anthropology, geography, history, philosophy, political science, and psychology.
Funding Information
- Maximum funding is $16,500.
- Project duration is limited to two years. The ending date would be 08/31/2025.
Eligibility Criteria
- Master’s and PhD students enrolled full-time at accredited institutions in the Southern region at the time of proposal submission are eligible to apply for Graduate Student Grants. A graduate student may receive only one Graduate Student Grant during a Master’s program, and only one Graduate Student Grant during a PhD program. The grant can only be used by the student who submitted the proposal. If the student leaves the institution or graduates from the degree program prior to completing the grant project, another graduate student must be selected to the grant project with SSARE approval.
- 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.
Allowable Expenses
- Materials and supplies needed for the project, including software. The materials and supplies must remain within the scope of the project and be a reasonable request relative to the research being conducted.
- Costs of sampling and data analysis, either in the lab or in the field.
- The purchase of equipment. Any equipment obtained becomes the property of the university that funded the graduate student grant.
- The rental of equipment or operating charges.
- Graduate Student Labor. The graduate student may receive up to a maximum of 50 percent of the project total. This is actual identifiable work on the project and NOT a general graduate stipend.
- General labor (such as an undergraduate student or lab technician). If general labor is required for the project, the budget for general labor is capped at 15 percent of the project total. This is actual identifiable work on the project and NOT a general stipend.
- Special texts not readily available.
- Travel and per diem necessary for the project. This can include outreach efforts.
- Student travel to one conference (not to exceed $1,000 including registration) to present his/her SARE-funded research.
For more information, visit Southern SARE.
