Winter 1995 (v7n1)
by Kristen Kelleher, Western U.S. USDA SARE/ACE
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program in the Western U.S. recently awarded nearly a half million dollars in educational grants to several universities and non-profit organizations. The purpose of the grants is to kick off a federally-legislated "train the trainers" effort to instruct Extension Service and Natural Resource Conservation Service (formerly Soil Conservation Service) personnel and others in sustainable agriculture concepts and practices. The Western region SARE program is coordinated by soil scientist V. Philip Rasmussen and hosted by Utah State University.
"We've hit the ground running this year with a handful of solid, ground-breaking training projects," says Rasmussen. "The SARE regional leadership worked closely with selected training project leaders to make sure that every state and territory in the West would have access to at least one educational effort."
"One goal of this grants program is to train Extension advisors and other professionals, but the end users are really farmers and ranchers," says A.J. Dye, USDA program leader for this $2.96 million national effort.
Rasmussen also announced that Jill Shore Auburn, UC SAREP associate director, will act as training coordinator. Auburn will organize the annual educational grants cycle and link training projects with similar state, federal and private outreach efforts.
Auburn was a founding member of the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN), a national information-gathering and electronic networking initiative of the national SARE program and has been involved in sustainable agriculture for 15 years. Auburn completed her doctorate at the University of California, Davis.
The competitive research grants portion of SARE, known as Chapter 1, has been funded since 1988. The new training effort, most often called Chapter 3, received funding for the first time in the 1994 federal fiscal year. Both grants programs are administered by USDA's newly-combined Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (formerly the separate Cooperative State Research Service and the Extension Service).
Grant Awards and Selection
Western SARE Chapter 3 grant awards include:
- $ 78,000 for a four-state
"Pacific Northwest Sustainable Agricultural Systems Training Program"
involving Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Idaho to be coordinated by
John Luna of Oregon State University.
- $75,000 for a one-year training program utilizing satellite-down linking and teleconferencing led by Joe Hiller of the University of Wyoming and Dennis Lamm of Colorado State University, which will focus on rangeland livestock production and dryland farming. It will be targeted to eight states: Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Southern Idaho, Montana, Northern New Mexico, Northern Arizona and Nevada.
- $89,000 for a one-year program coordinated by Po-Yung Lai of the University of Hawaii for extension personnel in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Micronesia and the Northern Mariana Islands.
- $71,000 for a University of California, Davis, program led by Steve Temple that will use a long-term, SARE- and UC SAREP-funded sustainable agriculture farming systems research project as a "living laboratory" for workshops and other educational efforts. Extension leaders in California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and other Western states will be encouraged to participate.
- $91,000 for a training program coordinated by Nancy Matheson of the Montana-based nonprofit Alternative Energy Resources Organization that will include educational events and materials built upon research and results of "farm and ranch improvement clubs" (farmer-led small groups who conduct on farm research and demonstration projects). The program will be geared for extension personnel in Montana, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming and Utah.
- $5,620 to Jerome Osentowski and Sandy Cruz of the nonprofit Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute in Colorado to produce a pamphlet on permaculture, or "permanent agriculture" systems.
The selection process for the first round of grant awards and a regional training coordinator was conducted simultaneously and directed by the program's Administrative Council. Regional recommendations were then approved by the USDA.
New Calls for Proposals Released
In one of her first duties as training coordinator, Auburn recently initiated the Chapter 3 grants cycle for the current federal fiscal year. A Call for Proposals for educational and professional development training projects was released in the fall of 1994; proposals were due January 10, 1995.
State-by-State Strategic Planning
According to Auburn, in addition to awarded grants, every state Extension Service has been given financial support to develop educational strategies for training their personnel in sustainable agriculture. The federal Extension Service has directed state offices to bring together a variety of players to work on the plans. It is actively encouraging strategies that take advantage of existing resources and encourages long-term dialogue within the extended agricultural community.
"It's a terrific opportunity for Extension and land-grant universities to work with farm advocates, educators and private industry outside the federal system on a vital task: sharing the latest scientific research and technologic s related to sustainable agriculture," says Auburn.
In California, statewide planning is being coordinated by UC SAREP Director and State Extension Sustainable Agriculture Leader Bill Liebhardt (see "SAREP Coordinates Statewide Planning", p.9). To find out the extension leader in other states, contact that state's Cooperative Extension Service o r Auburn at (916) 757-3278.
About SARE
The national SARE initiative is directed regionally by four independent policy-making councils: West, North Central, Northeast and Southern United States. In cooperation with the federal SARE office and the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, these regional committees of scientists, farmers and administrators represent a variety of institutions, agencies, organizations and interests that provide regional perspective and leadership to all research, educational and training efforts.
Utah State University is host to the SARE program in the thirteen-state Western region, which includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming and the Island Protectorates.
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