The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) ''Program is a US based competitive

grants Grant or Grants may refer to: Places * Grant County (disambiguation) Australia * Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia United Kingdom *Castle Grant United States * Grant, Alabama *Grant, Inyo County, ...

and

education program Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Vari ...

administered through the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

’s (USDA)

National Institute of Food and Agriculture The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is a U.S. federal government body whose creation was mandated in the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008. Its purpose is to consolidate all federally funded agricultural research, an ...

(NIFA), and run by four regional councils that set policy and make grants. The four regions, North Central, Northeast, South and West, are each guided by a volunteer Administrative Council that sets regional priorities. These councils include farmers and

ranchers A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most often ...

, representatives from universities, government, agribusiness and

nonprofit organizations A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

. Since 1988, SARE has invested around $200 million in more than 5,000 initiatives. New York has had the most funded SARE projects, followed by Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Every US state has had at least 10 SARE grants since the program's inception.

History

SARE is supported by the

(NIFA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). It was initially authorized as the Low-Input Sustainable Agriculture (LISA) Program in the

Food Security Act of 1985 The Food Security Act of 1985 (P.L. 99–198, also known as the 1985 U.S. Farm Bill), a 5-year omnibus farm bill, allowed lower commodity price and income supports and established a dairy herd buyout program. This 1985 farm bill made changes in ...

. In 1990, the Food, Agriculture, Conservation and Trade Act (FACTA) changed the name of the program and authorized the programs governing structure of regional Administrative Councils and host institutions. Congress determined it should be funded at no less than $60 million a year, as per the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences. However, annual appropriations have yet to reach this level, and are currently less than half. The 2014 Farm Bill did not modify the substance of the SARE program, but determined that the program will now have to be reauthorized in future farm bills, beginning in 2018. The 2014 Agriculture Appropriations Act consolidated funding for the SARE Professional Development Program (PDP) and the SARE Research and Education (R&E) grants into a single item. This means that funding decisions regarding how much of the total should go towards each of these program components is now left up to USDA, rather than Congress.

References

*{{CRS, article = Report for Congress: Agriculture: A Glossary of Terms, Programs, and Laws, 2005 Edition, url = http://ncseonline.org/nle/crsreports/05jun/97-905.pdf, author= Jasper Womach

External links

* http://www.sare.org United States Department of Agriculture programs Sustainable agriculture

History

See also

References

External links