Grants

The National Estuaries Program's Coastal Watersheds Grants are part of a nationally competitive program designed to support projects that address urgent and challenging issues threatening the well-being of coastal and estuarine areas within determined estuaries of national significance. Congressionally-set project priorities include loss of key habitats, harmful algal blooms, invasive species, flooding and coastal erosion, nutrient and warm water impacts, and contaminants of emerging concern. Click here for more info.

The Professional Development Grant program funds projects that develop the knowledge, awareness, skills, and attitudes of agricultural and other service providers about sustainable agriculture practices to teach, advise, or assist farmers. A service provider is a professional who assists farmers as part of their work. Projects that develop the ability of other service providers (for example, real estate agents, bankers, and attorneys) to work with farmers are also eligible. These service providers then use what they’ve learned through participation in project activities in their work with farmers.

The Research for Novel Approaches in Sustainable Agriculture Grant Program funds “proof of concept” applied research projects intended to confirm the benefits and/or feasibility of new practices and approaches that have high potential for adoption by farmers in the near future. These practices and approaches may be related to production, marketing, business management, human resource management and other social issues, or other topics related to sustainable agriculture. By “proof of concept,” we mean that evidence from prior experiments or pilot projects strongly suggests a practice or approach is beneficial and feasible, but additional testing, data and refinement is needed before recommending farmer adoption.

Research may be conducted through field trials, laboratory experiments and social science investigations. Exploratory research with little likelihood of determining feasibility for farmer adoption in the near-term will not be funded. There must be documented interest among farmers and service providers in utilizing or promoting the novel approach, should it be proven beneficial and feasible.

A wide variety of topics can be funded by Northeast SARE, including marketing and business, crop production, raising livestock, aquaculture, social sustainability, urban and Indigenous agriculture and much more. Other aspects of projects funded through the Northeast SARE program include those that address climate-smart agriculture practices intended to improve ecological, social, and economic resilience to climate change; increase carbon sequestration; and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Climate-smart practices include reduced and no-till, cover crops, prescribed grazing, ruminant feed management, manure management, fertilizer management, and on-farm energy efficiency. In addition, projects may address traditional ecological knowledge.

Partnership Grants are reserved for agricultural service providers--extension staff, nonprofits, consultants, state departments of agriculture, and others working in the agricultural community--who want to conduct research to improve production practices, marketing approaches, or farmer, farmworker or community well-being; education and training programs to increase knowledge and improve decision-making about sustainable practices; on-farm or in-market demonstrations of new techniques; and developing new farm management and community development approaches that support sustainable agriculture outcomes.