Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

pcplantdb - [pcplantdb] SARE?

pcplantdb@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: pcplantdb

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Stephanie Gerson <sgerson@stanfordalumni.org>
  • To: PCPLANTDB <pcplantdb@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [pcplantdb] SARE?
  • Date: Sun, 17 Oct 2004 14:21:43 -0700

Yes, hello again.

I know I’m sending lots of emails today, but there’s many things to
discuss. And this is one of them.

I mentioned in my funding update post that we weren’t ready for a SARE
grant, but that there was incredible potential for cross-pollination
between the Permaculture community and USDA agencies. This is something
I’d like to seriously discuss with yalls, because if we’re gonna go for a

SARE grant, we might have to modify the hg considerably (or, at least,
collaborate with PDC instructors to ensure successful deployment of the
resource) and network with ag professionals and extension agents. This
would be a significant effort on our part, so before initiating it, I
wanted to hear your thoughts.

=>Background Information (quotes from www.sare.org)
“Since 1988, the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE)
program has helped advance farming systems that are profitable,
environmentally sound and good for communities through a nationwide
research and education grants program. The program is part of USDA's
Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, is managed
in partnership with regional land grant hosts, and funds projects and
conducts outreach designed to improve agricultural systems. To advance
such knowledge nationwide, SARE administers a competitive grants program
first funded by Congress in 1988. Grants are offered through four regions
-- North Central, Northeast, South and West -- under the direction of
councils that include farmers and ranchers along with representatives
from universities, government, agribusiness and nonprofit organizations.”

(Note: although they accept grants at the national level, we’d be
applying for a grant in the Western region because the national level,
according to the coordinator I spoke with, are INCREDIBLE competitive.
National level means we’d have to have a relationship with USDA agencies
in *every* state – versus regional level, where we’d only have to have
relationships with a few in that region. Plus, the coordinator I spoke
with recommended that we start regional as proof-of-concept, and then
move national if the project is successful. I decided on the Western
region because that’s where the majority of us seem to be located – Scott

and PI in New Mexico, Johns in Hawaii, and I’m in California.)

We’d be applying for a Professional Development Grant, which are intended
spread the knowledge about sustainable concepts and practices, these
projects educate Cooperative Extension Service staff and other ag
professionals. Sounds perfect for hg…um, except for the CES staff and ag
professionals part. And the grant proposal description stresses this
point: “Target Audience: Extension, faculty, and field personnel of USDA
agencies, such as NRCS (along with other federal, state or private
agricultural professionals), must be the primary audiences targeted for
training.”

Hmmm. And what’s up with that “training” part? Hg won’t be a
training,
it will be an educational resources. That’s where the PDC and
Permaculture educators come in. If we collaborated with PC educators, we
could design a PDC specifically for “extension, faculty, and field
personnel of USDA agencies” which incorporated the use of hg, leaving
trainees with the tool to use and advertise to small farmers post-
training.

And perhaps you’re moaning, “Oh Steph, this isn’t worth it – let’s
just
stick with the Permaculture community and not bother with this USDA
mess.” I understand. But. This could be an incredibly powerful way to
truly assimilate Permaculture principles into our common agricultural
practices. Because think about it: the average small farmer looking to
transition to organic agriculture for economic reasons is never going to
turn to the Permaculture community, but he/she will turn to ag
professionals and extension agents. So it’s not about us trying to cater
to the average small farmer, it’s about us giving appropriate information
to the small farmer’s information source. Teach the teachers of the
masses if you really want to spread the message. But there are more
fundamental questions we must consider before going any further, which
I’m sure you’re all pondering right about now. Such questions include
whether Permaculture is fundamentally incompatible with large-scale
agriculture, whether Permaculture should be “institutionalized” (in the
sense of introducing it to agricultural institutions), and whether
there’s too much of a difference in value systems between the
Permaculture community and USDA agencies for introduction of Permaculture
principles to even be effective, among others. All relevant concerns
indeed. Has the Permaculture community ever attempted to introduce
Permaculture to USDA agencies in this way?

Attached is an excerpt from our would-have-been grant proposal. PLEASE
KEEP THE AUDIENCE I WAS SPEAKING TO IN MIND. I might have phrased things
differently and been less explicit about stereotypes had I been writing
for another audience.

I would really like to hear your thoughts about this – so I know if this
is something I ought be actively pursuing.

awaiting your responses,
*Stephanie






+++++++++++++++
Stephanie Gerson
sgerson@stanfordalumni.org
(c) 415.871.5683


____________________________________________________________________

Attachment: SARE_excerpt.rtf
Description: RTF file




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page