The Graduate Student Grants provide sustainable agriculture research opportunities for Master’s and PhD students.
Donor Name: Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SARE)
State: Selected States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant | Reimbursement
Deadline: 05/10/2024
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 2 Years
Details:
Graduate students can use the following focus areas as topic guidelines for submitting proposals, but are not limited to this list for their research ideas.
- 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 Agriculture 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
- Graduate Student Grant project maximums are $22,000 for two-year projects. SSARE recommends two-year projects; it is difficult to extrapolate usable, replicable, practicable data from one-year research.
- Graduate Student Grants are paid by reimbursement of allowable project expenses.
Allowable Expenses
Graduate Student Grant funds may be used for the following purposes:
- 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.
- Temporary irrigation and electric fences.
- Livestock or bees, only if the university does not already have animals available for use. The animals become the property of the university at project end.
- Graduate Student Labor. The graduate student may receive up to a maximum of 50 percent of the project total (salary and fringe benefits combined). 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 (salary and fringe benefits combined). 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 travel related to outreach efforts. Use your university per diem rules.
- Food and refreshments. You must demonstrate that providing food or refreshments is necessary to effectively execute your grant project or provide educational continuation of the outreach efforts (encouraging participation, fellowship or gathering as a justification does not meet the guidelines).
- Student travel to one conference (not to exceed $1,000 including registration) to present his/her SARE-funded research.
Who Can Apply?
- Master’s and PhD students enrolled at accredited institutions in the Southern region are invited to apply for Graduate Student Grants. A graduate student may receive only one Graduate Student Grant during his or her graduate student program. The Graduate Student Grant can only be used for the graduate student who submitted the proposal. If a graduate student transfers to another institution, the grant award cannot follow the student. If the graduate student cannot complete the project, the grant cannot be transferred to another graduate student without SSARE approval.
- Research projects must focus on sustainable agriculture and cover issues related to improving the profitability of farmers/ranchers in the Southern region; sustaining and improving the environmental quality and natural resources base on which agriculture depends; or enhancing the quality of life for farmers and ranchers and the communities they support. Research projects can be quantitative (component field research, for example) or qualitative (research that addresses social science issues).
Grant Requirements
Graduate Student Grant proposals must meet the following basic requirements in order to be considered for funding:
- Graduate students must be enrolled full time, according to the institution’s requirements, at an accredited institution in the Southern region at the time of proposal submission. International students are welcome to apply as long as they are enrolled at an institution in the Southern region. Institutions can be from within the land-grant system (1862 or 1890 universities), or other colleges and universities outside of the land-grant system.
- Graduate Student Grant projects must address sustainable agriculture issues of current and potential importance to the Southern region.
- The proposed project satisfies the requirements of allowable expenses.
- The graduate student is only allowed to apply for one proposal to the Graduate Student Grant program during his or her graduate student program.
For more information, visit SARE.
