Northeast SARE offers grants to graduate students to conduct research on topics specific to sustainable agriculture under the supervision of a faculty advisor. Proposals should address issues of current or potential importance to Northeast farmers, agricultural researchers, and farm support professionals like NRCS personnel, Extension educators, and nonprofit staff.

Projects may address a range of topics including, but not limited to, cropping systems, pest management, livestock health, soil quality, farm energy production, farm labor, and the marketing of local agricultural products. They must also explore one or more of the sustainable agriculture themes of environmental stewardship, profitability, and quality of life for farmers and the farm community. Projects must be consistent with our outcome statement and address the program’s review criteria.

To see examples of funded Graduate Student Research Grant projects, visit the national SARE database at: projects.sare.org/search-projects/.

Timing & Funds Available

Grants are capped at $30,000 and projects can run up to two years. Proposals are typically due in the spring with a late summer start date. For this cycle, proposals are due Tuesday, September 29th by 4 p.m. ET.

Eligible Applicants

This grant program is open to any graduate student enrolled at an accredited college, university, or veterinary school who is proposing to conduct research in the Northeast region. Proposals are limited to one per graduate student per year. An individual student may receive only one Northeast SARE Graduate Student Grant over the course of their studies.

Proposals must be written by the graduate student applicant, in support of their individual research effort and not that of a group project or team of researchers. While collaboration is encouraged, the graduate student applicant will be the manager and contact for the project, if funded. As such, they are expected to lead all aspects of the application and subsequently to make sure the proposed work is completed, and project reports are filed in a timely fashion.

If the project is part of a larger project or thesis, the portion of work proposed for SARE funding must be clearly identified.

Applicants and host organizations may be located outside of the Northeast region if the project activities and the audience served are located within the Northeast region. Current SARE grant recipients who are behind in their reporting will not be awarded a new project.

We encourage you to reach out to us regarding any challenges you experience as you plan and submit your proposal. To do so or to specifically request a disability-related accommodation, please contact Northeast SARE as soon as possible at 802-651-8335 or northeast-gs@sare.org. Depending on the type of request it may take our team two or more weeks to provide accommodations. We appreciate advance notice, so we have time to effectively address your request.

The Role of Faculty Advisors

Because universities typically do not allow students to manage institutional grant awards, the student applicant's faculty advisor will be named the principal investigator of the awarded grant. The faculty advisor must endorse the proposal and act as the official principal investigator; therefore, they must ensure the project and budgeted expenditures proposed are acceptable.

Northeast SARE staff will be hosting 4 Q&A sessions for potential applicants. Registration is available at https://northeast.sare.org/GraduateStudentQA, where all session recordings and questions will be posted

• Tuesday, September 1, 2026 from noon – 1pm ET

• Tuesday, September 8, 2026 from noon – 1pm ET

• Tuesday, September 15, 2026 from noon – 1pm ET

• Tuesday, September 22, 2026 from noon – 1pm ET

View Call

Organizational Definitions

Legislative Priorities

All Northeast SARE grants must fit within one or more of SARE's Legislative Priorities that encourage research to increase knowledge concerning agricultural production. These priorities include:

● maintaining and enhancing the quality and productivity of the soil;

● conserving soil, water, energy, natural resources, and fish and wildlife habitat;

● maintaining and enhancing the quality of surface and ground water;

● protecting the health and safety of persons involved in the food and farm system;

● promoting the well-being of animals; and

● Increasing employment opportunities in agriculture.

Farmer Impact

Projects having a significant impact/impression on farmer's and farming communities is also critical. Impact can be economic, social, environmental etc. For example:

How does the research support farmer/farming community livelihoods?
How does the research build strong economies through local and/or regional trade?
How does the research improve crop production?

For impact, replicability is important. Replicability is the ability of another farmer or farming community to obtain similar results when applying the same method (s). In other words, another farmer can utilize the results of the research to benefit their farming practices of behavior.

Outcome Statement

"Northeast agricultural communities honor the holistic connection among land, water, air, and all living beings. Agriculture in the Northeast is sustainable so that all farmers and farm employees can steward resources to ensure sustainability, resilience, economic viability, and a high quality of life."

Innovation

Innovation is defined as the development or adoption of new concepts or ideas and the successful exploration of new ideas. Ideation is the basis of creativity. The process of creative ideation develops new concepts; Innovation applies them. Creativity can only emerge when an innovator takes the idea and puts it into practice. Innovation can also be social and develop and implement novel and effective solutions to meet social and environmental challenges. The results should improve the welfare and well being of individual farmers and farming communities and reproducible. Within the scope of Northeast SARE, examples can include, but are not limited to:

● The introduction of a new behavior/practice, one with which farmers are not yet familiar

● The introduction of an improved or better agricultural behavior/practice, which may not be new, but is an improvement upon what occurred before.

● The opening of a new market that has not been entered previously, whether this market has existed previously.

● A new source of supply of materials or goods, again irrespective of whether this source already exists or whether it has first to be created.

● Improved organizational structure and/or capacity.

Northeast SARE encourages innovative solutions to challenges in farming and food systems in the Northeast USA, including but not limited to the areas of:

Marketing and business
Crop production
Raising livestock
Aquaculture
Economic and social sustainability
Ecological knowledge
And more.

Northeast SARE does not support:

Educational programs for the general public
Food donation efforts
General public awareness campaigns about agriculture and nutrition
Community or school gardening initiatives

Questions?

Please contact northeast-gs@sare.org with your questions.