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Southern SARE Grants at Work on Farms and in Communities
(cont'd
from SSAWG E-Newsletter May 2008)
By Gwen Roland, Communications Specialist for Southern Region SARE
The women planned and conducted trainings in business strategy and all
phases of growing and marketing a wide variety of agricultural
products. These include herbal soaps, oils, and lotions developed from
recipes that had been handed down for generations. They also add value
to collard greens through washing and chopping. Green peppers are made
into pepper sauce. Fresh flowers are arranged into bouquets for market.
They add value to pecans by shelling, packaging, and even making candy.
They are turning an old school into a certified kitchen that will allow
them to expand their line of value-added foods.
To find out more about this project go to the Southern Rural
Black Women’s Initiative website at www.srbwi.com
or call Mikhiela Sherrod at 229.430.9870.
In Arkansas, the All-Ozark Meal project, headed up by Julia Sampson,
who now serves as Southern SAWG’s executive assistant, connected
chefs and producers to serve almost 1,000 people at eleven wildly
successful meals around Fayetteville. The events ranged from a sit-down
dinner at an upscale restaurant to casual gatherings at a local food
co-op deli to communal meals at a church kitchen. Like all good meals,
the planning started long before the cooking and eating. The gargantuan
effort included working with chefs to develop menus that would use
available local food, arranging timely deliveries, and managing
publicity. This all had to happen months before the first meal could be
served in July 2003. By the time the last satisfied guest pushed
away from the table in November, the team’s mission had been
accomplished—a whole lot of consumers and chefs were ready to
sign up for fresh local food.
Read more about this project at www.sare.org
by searching for project CS03-014 in the project database.
SCI (Sustainable Community Innovation) grants are a
partnership of the Southern Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and
Education Program SARE and the Southern Rural Development Center. The
call for proposals is released each summer with proposals due in autumn
and awards announced before the end of the year. Grants can
fund up to $10,000 and are available to individuals and groups
throughout the Southern Region. The call for proposals can be obtained
at www.southernsare.org.
Grants for Producers
Southern SARE’s Producer Grants support research or education
conducted by a farmer or group of farmers on their own property.
Farmers often use the grants to take some of the financial risk out of
trying a new crop or a management technique. John Frazier’s
plastic mulch research in South Carolina is typical of this kind of
project. He compared strawberry yield for two seasons to determine that
black plastic mulch worked better than red plastic mulch. The black
mulch raised soil temperatures higher, produced more berries early in
the season, was less expensive than red plastic, and made the berries
easier to see.
The New North Florida Farmer Cooperative (NNFC) used a SARE Producer
Grant to decide whether their best business option was to remain a
supplier of fresh produce to schools or to branch out to supplying
Department of Defense institutions. They quickly found out that the
expansion idea was not profitable. “Because they needed small
quantities every day, and we were dealing in fresh produce, rather than
canned or frozen, it was not profitable to drive four hours one way to
deliver five cases of muscadines,” says Glyen Holms, executive
director of NNFC. “Once we closed that door, we went back to
concentrating on what we were good at—marketing local food to
local schools.”.
Eventually the cooperative expanded into Georgia, Alabama, and
Mississippi to become the Small Farmers Distribution Network.
“Now more than a half million school students eat our fruits and
vegetables every day,” says Holmes.
For more information on this project visit www.sare.org and search the SARE project database for
FS00-121.
The Producer Grant Call for Proposals is released each
September; proposals are due in November; and awards are announced in
February. The call for proposals can be obtained at www.southernsare.org.
Grants for Agents
On-Farm Grants offer extension agents and other agriculture
professionals who work directly with producers the opportunity to
conduct research on one or more cooperating farms.
York Glover of South Carolina Cooperative Extension at Clemson used a
SARE On-Farm Grant to help three farms start transitioning to organic
methods and sell at farmers’ markets. Soil tests were used to
evaluate the benefits of buckwheat, poultry manure and compost tea
during the transition on all three farms.
For more information, search the database at www.sare.org for project OS03-013.
In Puerto Rico, Steven Welker with the El Atlantico RC&D is helping
a group of farmers find a way to grow coffee seedlings with less water,
less labor and less erosion. The farmers in the group raise gourmet
coffee in an agro forestry system that includes plantains and citrus
crops for shade and additional income. In nature, coffee is an
understory plant, but it is increasingly raised in a full-sun system
that results in more erosion and poorer quality wildlife habitat,
especially for migrating birds.
For more information, search the database at www.sare.org for project OS05-027.
The On-Farm Call For Proposals is usually released in
September; proposals are due in November; and awards are announced in
February. The call for proposals can be obtained at www.southernsare.org.
Free Bulletins from SARE
SARE also turns the results of research projects into informational
bulletins for farmers and researchers. Titles such as Pastured Poultry Profits, Transitioning to Organics, How to do Research
on Your Farm, Smart Water Use on Your Farm or Ranch, and Managing Pests on Your Farm are available from www.sare.org or by contacting Paige Patton at the
Southern SARE office at 770.412.4787.
To learn more about Southern SARE programs and projects
please visit www.southernsare.org
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