The UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (UC SAREP) is a statewide program of University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) has announced a call for proposals for the 2021-22 Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Small Grants Program.

UC SAREP envisions a food and farming system that: 

• supports resilience through diversified production, marketing, and distribution systems,
• values all food system workers and supports their physical, economic, and social wellbeing,
• contributes to the health and vitality of both urban and rural communities,
• is environmentally regenerative, using resources for production and distribution in a way that protects the environment in trust for future generations, including under changing climate conditions, and
• is culturally responsive and reflects the ethnic, linguistic, and cultural diversity of California.

Program Priority Areas

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

• Support California’s farmers and ranchers 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 and decentralized supply chains; and
  • strategies that increase active community engagement in food and farming systems.
• Support California’s rural and urban communities to identify, implement, and evaluate strategies to:
  • expand access to healthy, sustainably produced, culturally appropriate foods;
  • ensure worker wellbeing across the food chain;
  • minimize the community and environmental costs of food production and distribution; and
  • strengthen connections between consumers and producers.

Categories

Proposals are requested for three types of projects: 

• Planning Grants: Planning grants are intended to support processes that bring together diverse stakeholders to plan for larger, more complex research and outreach projects for which larger funds are being sought.
• Education and Outreach Grants: Education and outreach grants include educational events, materials and outreach components of research projects.
• Applied Research Grants: These projects are intended to fund original, applied research in the above Program Priority Areas. For example, research might investigate the socio-economic impacts on farmworkers of climate change adaptation measures adopted within California agricultural systems. Research can also address other original issues, and should include an outreach component.

Funding Information

Total funding will be approximately $80,000. Individual grants will be limited to a maximum of $7,000. Grantees will be notified by March 19, 2021. Funds are expected to be available by June 1, 2021. Due to the limited funds available, only one-year projects will be considered. 

Eligibility Criteria

Eligible applicants include California-based farm or food system businesses and those affiliated with California non-profit, tax-exempt organizations, state and local government agencies, and California public and private institutions of higher education. "California non-profit, tax-exempt organization" is defined as any organization which is operating in California and legally exempt from taxes imposed by the California Franchise Tax Board's revenue and taxation codes. UC SAREP staff are not eligible to participate as an investigator or cooperator on any project. 

For more information, visit UC SAREP.