Project Overview
Commodities
Practices
Proposal abstract:
The North Carolina Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NC SARE) program, in partnership with North Carolina State University (NC State), promotes sustainable agriculture by providing travel scholarships to professionals in the agriculture community. This includes Extension agents, mentor farmers, NGOs, and other individuals working to advance sustainable farming practices in North Carolina.
The scholarships aim to support professionals in attending a range of educational trainings, workshops, conferences, and other events that enhance their knowledge and skills to better serve the sustainable agriculture community. Applications can be made for opportunities both in-state and out-of-state, and they are expected to align with the professional's region, county needs, available resources, and expertise level.
Training opportunities supported by NC SARE cover a wide array of topics, including but not limited to:
- Carolina Farm Stewardship Conference (CFSA)
- NC Choices' Carolina Meat Conference
- Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) workshops
- Organic Livestock and Commodities workshop
- NC Agrotourism Conference
- Southeast Sustainable Agriculture Conference
The NC SARE program is guided by an Advisory Committee that ensures a broad range of training areas are available to professionals. NC State University and NC A&T University collaborate closely to promote and provide access to these valuable training opportunities for North Carolina's sustainable agriculture professionals.
Project objectives from proposal:
During FY 2025-26 NC SARE planned to: provide scholarships for registrations/travel to approximate 30 professionals to attend CSFA SAC ($300 per person), along with support for 6 hands-on training presenters ($600 per), and 2 tent rentals for on farm demo @$300 ea. Approximately 15 professionals to the Organic Commodities and Livestock Conference (lodging $200/pp ), and 25 professionals for registration ($50/pp) plus $400 towards food for continuity programming in field demonstrations. Also, provide scholarships for approximately 6 professionals to attend courses toward food system development certification ($200 each)
We will use funds to provide guides/books/reference materials for our NC extension agents to share with their growers/producers during farm visits and at workshops $750.