Guidelines

Review team and proposal evaluation

If your preproposal is approved, then a team of reviewers from agribusiness, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, cooperative extension, as well as farmers and academicians with expertise in relevant fields will make an initial evaluation of your full proposal based on the extent to which:

• It is thorough and complete
• It holds promise of research results and related publications that could contribute or connect to the Northeast SARE outcome statement
• The proposed approach makes sense and interdisciplinary team is committed
• An effective evaluation strategy is specifically described
• Prior work related to the project is adequately researched and discussed
• Participation of cooperators is adequate to accomplish the project
• The project leaders are capable and committed

Proposal evaluation and content criteria

As proposals move through the evaluation process, reviewers ask broader questions about content and quality. These content criteria are:

• Does the project establish an experimental farming system that relies primarily on cycling of resources rather than purchase of off-farm, fossil-fuel based inputs to sustain productivity?
• Does the project have a team that can examine multiple aspects of the experimental whole-farm ecosystem?
• How compelling are the potential benefits to researchers, farmers, and the wider agricultural community?
• Can the research effort be structured so that some useful results will be available within three years? If a second phase of funding is part of the research plan, has the project been designed in phases that are compatible with SARE funding cycles?
• Does the project present an innovative realm of inquiry that holds potential for significant insight into how farming systems can be designed to make much more efficient use of natural resources and ecological cycles?
• Is the match sufficient and appropriate to assure commitment from the project leaders, and is there institutional buy-in to assure project longevity if subsequent funding is provided.