What is SARE?

What is SARE?
Since 1988, the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program has helped advance farming systems that are profitable, environmentally sound and good for communities through a nationwide research and education grants program.

To advance such knowledge nationwide, SARE administers a competitive grants program first funded by Congress in 1988. Grants are offered through four regions -- North Central, Northeast, South and West -- under the direction of councils that include farmers and ranchers along with representatives from universities, government, agribusiness and nonprofit organizations. The diversity in membership of the regional administrative councils reflects SARE's commitment to serve the whole spectrum of the agricultural community. SARE's broad representation remains largely unique in federal grant funding for agriculture.

The national outreach office of the SARE program is supported by the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. It operates under cooperative agreements with the University of Maryland and the University of Vermont (Award Nos. 2007-38640-03953 and 2007-47001-03782) to develop and disseminate information about sustainable agriculture. Guided by a Steering Committee, the outreach office maintains the website and publishes a variety of print and electronic resources for farmers, agricultural educators, and consumers. It also hosts SANET-MG, a sustainable agriculture listserv with over 700 subscribers from around the globe.

Voices from the New American Farmers
Learn more about what drives farmers and ranchers trying to produce in ways that are profitable, environmentally sound and good for people and communities.

View or listen to Jill Auburn, SARE Director: “We are very proud of what SARE has accomplished in its short lifetime. We’ve shown that sustainable agriculture works.”

View | Listen

Innovations in Agriculture: An Introduction to the SARE Program
This 14-minute video about USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program provides colorful vignettes of how sustainable agriculture is being researched and tested on farms and ranches across the nation. The video takes you across four states, where researchers, agricultural educators and farmers detail their efforts to adopt more sustainable methods.

Download SARE Logo and Usage Guidelines

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