Annual Plan of Work and Report Summary
2012 Report
Raised awareness of NCR-SARE grant opportunities and assist applicants. Solicit applications from traditionally underserved communities. Publicized field days or other outreach events that share or demonstrate SARE grant results. Publicized SARE grant results on website, in newsletter articles and suggest grantees as speakers at program.
Attended Minnesota conferences with SARE display and information, and make presentations as requested. Completed farmer rancher grant-writing webinar.
Worked closely with groups awarded SARE competitive PDP grants in Minnesota. Helped them plan programs and connect them to organizations doing similar work, encourage educator attendance at workshops and events, and provided travel grants to educators for their events.
2013 Plan of Work
Minnesota’s sustainable agriculture proposed Plan of Work (POW) addresses our state’s diversity of human and natural resources, and engages both rural and urban communities in the work of providing safe, healthy food for all Minnesotans.
Minnesota has a long history of activity in sustainable agriculture on many fronts, from farmers, University of Minnesota research and extension, state, federal and nonprofit partners. In Minnesota, because of an abundance of organizations and activities, the challenge is to stay informed of current work being done by our many partners in sustainable agriculture.
In 2013, we will focus Minnesota SARE PDP resources on three Initiatives: 1) Local Food Systems 2) Building Soil Quality; 3) Carbon, Energy, and Climate. We will continue to solicit mini-grants to develop tours, or workshops, and work with planning groups to develop training workshops on aspects of the major initiatives. We will continue to identify training opportunities and encourage travel scholarships in the Initiative areas.
“Face of SARE” work will also continue in that SARE grants will be publicized on sustainable agriculture listservs and on appropriate Extension listservs, and we will continue to work closely with grant applicants, connecting them to people and other resources. We will continue to work to increase the number of grant applicants from underserved communities. SARE information will be distributed at conferences and educational events throughout the state, and we will write newsletter articles about SARE grant results.
State Advisory Committee
To share the load of planning responsibility, state coordinators are expected to assemble and work with a state sustainable agriculture advisory committee to plan training activities in each state. Often included are members representing sustainable agriculture farmers, commercial farmers, agribusiness, NRCS, non-profits, lenders, and rural community leaders. Some committees include individuals from farmers markets, environmental groups and farm organizations.
The advisory committee will assist the MN SARE state coordinators in identifying training needs in the state and help design programs to meet their needs.
