SAREP offers small grants

Cover crop study funded by SAREP last year. Photo by Vivian Wauters

The 2022/23 SAREP Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Small Grants Program is accepting applications until 12 noon PST, Feb. 15, 2022.

SAREP invites proposals for small grants to fund pilot projects and research projects that support California's farmers, ranchers and land stewards and/or rural, urban, and Tribal communities to plan, implement or evaluate sustainable agriculture or food systems strategies.

Program Priority Areas

UC SAREP will fund projects that fall within two priority areas:

1. Support California's farmers, ranchers and land stewards of all scales in identifying, piloting and transitioning to

• environmentally regenerative approaches to producing crops and livestock (including but not limited to soil health, organic and agroecological practices, integrated pest management, crop diversification);
• pathways for realizing economic return from ecologically-sound crop management practices and fair labor practices;
• marketing and distribution strategies that support diversified, decentralized, and locally self-organized supply chains;
• strategies that promote producer-to-producer networking and producer-to-supply chain networking

2. Support California's rural, urban, and Tribal communities to identify, implement and evaluate strategies to

• expand access to healthy, sustainably produced, culturally appropriate foods;
• ensure worker well-being across the food chain;
• minimize the community and environmental costs of food production and distribution;
• strengthen connections between consumers and producers;
• establish and strengthen producer-to-producer connections and producer-to-supply chain connections 

Priority will be given to projects that benefit socially disadvantaged communities and/or socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. We strongly encourage projects that are led by individuals and/or community-based organizations from these groups.

We are interested in projects that build the capacity of farming and food systems businesses and organizations to become reflective, adaptive learning organizations that can respond effectively to ecological, economic, and social change and disruption.

Proposal categories

Proposals are requested for three types of projects:

• Planning Grants
• Education and Outreach Grants
• Applied Research Grants

Information about each category and examples of previously funded projects, can be found at https://sarep.ucdavis.edu/grantsFY21-22.  

Who can apply

Eligible applicants include farm or food system businesses operating in California, nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations operating in California, state and local government agencies, tribal governments, and California public and private institutions of higher education.

Applicants must demonstrate meaningful collaboration and involvement of stakeholders in the design and execution of the project. Priority is also given to projects that foster cross-collaborations between multiple types of applicants, contributing to a unified approach in addressing core areas of concern.

For more information and requirements, please visit the SAREP Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Small Grants Program webpage or contact Rachael Callahan at rmcallahan@ucanr.edu. 

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