Submission Checklist for Farmer Grants

Checklist to meet our requirements

1. Make sure you understand the purpose of the SARE program with its emphasis on innovation, profitability, good stewardship, and widespread benefit.
2. Talk the project over with your technical advisor to make sure you have addressed any obvious problems with your project's concept or design. Give your advisor a copy of How to Write a SARE Farmer Grant so he or she understands how proposals are evaluated.
3. Do the necessary background work by investigating past SARE Farmer Grant projects and learning what is available through other resources. Be proactive about gathering the knowledge you will need to make your proposal interesting and well informed.
4. Show your proposal to other people and listen carefully to any comments they may have. Minimally, your technical advisor must read and approve your application, but other farmers or family members may have valuable comments as well.
5. Verify that you are not asking for things SARE does not fund. Farmer Grants cannot be used to start a farm, buy equipment, finance construction, or pay other capital expenses. Requests should be limited to direct, permitted project costs.
6. Check your budget against your narrative to make sure there is a very close fit between the project description and the items you are asking SARE to fund. Double-check your justification for accuracy and then, as a last step, round your request to the nearest dollar.
7. Submit your proposal on line as described in the instructions, and then mail the required signed hard copy before the postmark deadline.