Funding On-Farm Innovation: SARE Farmer/Rancher Grants

By Gordon Merrick

At the Organic Farming Research Foundation, we’ve seen firsthand that some of the most meaningful innovation happens on working farms, not just research plots. When farmers take the lead in experimenting and observing what works on their land, they build confidence, share new knowledge, and drive progress across the organic movement. That’s the spirit behind our Farmer-Led Trials Program—and the reason why we’re excited to release a new toolkit to help producers who utilize organic farming systems to access the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Farmer/Rancher Grant Program.

SARE provides direct funding for producers to test ideas and share solutions with their communities. This toolkit is designed to make that process more accessible than ever for organic and transitioning-to-organic producers.

What Is the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program?

The SARE Farmer/Rancher Grant Program is a competitive grant program that provides funding to producers who have designed their own research projects and teams. This program aims to award funding to projects that address real-world, on-farm challenges and include both research and outreach components.

Farmers and ranchers apply as the Principal Investigator and work with Technical Advisors, like Extension agents, university researchers, or nonprofit organizations. Together, they run projects lasting one to three years, testing new practices while sharing their findings with others.

The 2026 Call for Proposals was recently released and offers a funding limit of $35,000 for a project lasting up to three years!