For more information, CONTACT:
Lisa Bauer, NCR SARE Communications Specialist
402-472-0265 or sare003@unlvm.unl.edu
EDUCATORS: Apply for North Central SARE Professional Development Grants to
Teach Sustainable Agriculture
Lincoln, NE — Tight markets, low prices and bad weather force many farmers
to search for alternative ways to grow and sell their products. Information
on options often comes from Cooperative Extension Service and Natural
Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) personnel.
To help provide Extension and NRCS professionals with knowledge they need to
assist their clients, the North Central Region (NCR) Sustainable Agriculture
Research and Education (SARE) program is calling for competitive grant
proposals from experienced educators. Funds will be dispersed through NCR
SARE's Professional Development Program (PDP).
"We are calling on teams of educators to develop and deliver innovative
in-service training programs or educational products," said Elbert Dickey,
North Central SARE's regional extension coordinator. "We also want to teach
our professionals innovative methods of sharing information."
Nearly $500,000, at the approval of North Central SARE's Administrative
Council, will be available for one- to two-year grants. Individual grants
have generally ranged from $10,000 to $80,000 each.
Priority areas for the 1999 grant portfolio are: marketing and value-added
processing, farming and ranching systems-level education, economics of
sustainable agriculture, sustainable weed and pest management, measuring
soil quality and soil health, and emerging issues.
Past projects have included a program for educators and bankers on the
benefits of management-intensive grazing, training in soil quality and
whole-farm planning, sustainable agriculture distance learning, video
training with decision case studies, and a legal guide for farm marketers.
Applications are available Dec. 4, 1998, and proposals are due Feb. 12,
1999. Applicants must reside in the North Central region: Illinois, Indiana,
Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio,
South Dakota, and Wisconsin. For applications, contact the NCR SARE office
at the University of Nebraska, 13A Activities Bldg., Lincoln, NE 68583-0840,
402-472-7081, 402-472-0280 (fax) or sare001@unlvm.unl.edu. The PDP Call for
Proposals will also be available at the NCR SARE Web site,
www.sare.org/ncrsare, on Dec. 4.
SARE is a federal program supporting sustainable agriculture through
competitive grants and other educational endeavors. The PDP was created in
1994 to help agricultural educators learn about sustainable systems and
concepts.
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Lisa Bauer
Communications Specialist
North Central Region SARE
University of Nebraska
13A Activities Bldg.
Lincoln, NE 68583-0840
402-472-0265
402-472-0280 (fax)
sare003@unlvm.unl.edu
www.sare.org/ncrsare
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