Grants Available for Sustainable Ag Projects

Colorado ranchers and farmers are invited to submit grant proposals for research projects that focus on sustainable agriculture. The Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program has made more than $2 million in grants available to agriculture producers and individuals from universities, farm support agencies, agri-businesses and nonprofit organizations.

The grants typically explore, develop or promote some aspect of agricultural sustainability, which embraces profitable farms and ranches, a healthy environment and strong families and communities.

Categories for research grants include research and education; farmer/rancher; professional and producer; professional development programs; and graduate fellow grants in sustainable agriculture.

"These grants encourage ranchers and farmers to create new methods which care for the land while still turning a profit," said Dennis Lamm, state coordinator of the professional development program and agriculture extension education director at Colorado State University.

Western SARE, administered through Utah State University, is one of four regions of SARE under the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Western region includes 13 states and four U.S. Pacific island protectorates. Since the program started in 1988, Western SARE has distributed more than $40 million in competitive grants to nearly 1,000 recipients in the region.

This year’s requests for applications and grant deadlines can be obtained from the Western SARE Web site, http://wsare.usu.edu, by calling (435) 797-2257 or by e-mailing wsare@ext.usu.edu. For more information, contact Lamm at (970) 491-2074 or via

e-mail at Dennis.Lamm@colostate.edu.

For more information about sustainable agriculture programs at Colorado State, visit online at www.coopext.colostate.edu/sustag.

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