Research & Education Grants to Advance Systems Research Awarded for FY2011
GRIFFIN, Georgia – Adopting sustainable farming practices among African-American farmers, improving the welfare of Southeastern dairy families and saving endangered hog breeds are just some of the Research & Education projects the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program has funded for FY2011.
Southern SARE awarded over $1.4 million in Research & Education grants to further sustainable agriculture systems research efforts. Systems research, the core of Southern SARE program fundamentals, aims to understand how a complex system functions as a whole, often beginning with a conceptual model.
Of 28 full proposals submitted for review, 7 projects were chosen by the Southern SARE Administrative Council. The grants fund up to three years of project activities. Research & Education Grants are targeted to researchers of public and private institutions, environmental agencies, USDA-ARS laboratories and community-based organizations whose activities focus on developing sustainable agricultural systems.
Funded projects for FY2011 include:
• LS11-240: Organic Farms’ Credit Access and Farm Lenders’ Assessment of Organic Farms’ Credit Risks, $132,386, University of Georgia, Cesar Escalante, cescalan@uga.edu.
• LS11-241: Enhancing Natural Enemy Systems: Biocontrol Implementation for Peachtree Borers, $226,100, USDA-ARS, Georgia, David Shapiro-Ilan, David.Shapiro@ars.usda.gov.
• LS11-242: Adoption of Sustainable Farming and Ranching Practices Among African-American Farmers: Helping and Hindering Factors and the Role of the 2008 Farm Bill; $130,370, Federation of Southern Cooperatives, Georgia, Heather Gray, fsc@mindspring.com.
• LS11-243: Improving the Welfare of Southeastern Dairy Families Through the Adoption of Sustainable Production Systems; $294,409, University of Georgia, R. Curt Lacy, clacy@uga.edu.
• LS11-244: Taking Advantage of Pest Thrips Ecology to Increase Sustainability of Vegetable Crop Production; $235,000, USDA-ARS, Florida, Stuart R. Reitz, stuart.reitz@ars.usda.gov.
• LS11-245: Assessing the Food and Environmental Safety and Economic Feasibility of Mobile Slaughter Units for Pasture Poultry Growers in the Southeast; $240,780, University of Georgia, Walid Alali, walali@uga.edu.
• LS11-246: Saving Endangered Hog Breeds; $151,215, American Livestock Breed Conservancy, North Carolina; Charles Bassett, cbassett@albc-usa.org.
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Published by the Southern Region of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. Funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Southern SARE operates under cooperative agreements with the University of Georgia, Fort Valley State University, and the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture to offer competitive grants to advance sustainable agriculture in America's Southern region.
