Administrative Council

Each Administrative Council (AC) member is encouraged to be actively involved with at least one NCR-SARE Committee. “Official” committees are self-organized, but committees – especially ones that receive NCR-SARE financial resources – are expected to get approval for their membership rotation and officer selection process from the AC, and they are expected to report to the AC at least once per year. Most NCR-SARE committees have at least 50% of their members on the AC; non-AC members can be staff, NCR-SARE alumni, or others who can contribute to the committee’s work.

Current NCR-SARE committees:

• Alumni Steering Committee: This recently formed committee will help form an NCR-SARE Alumni Organization. The current plan is that the Alumni Organization would be somewhat independent of the NCR-SARE Administrative Council, but would report to and could request funds (used for purposes that meet NIFA and host guidelines) each year from the NCR-SARE AC.
• Communications Advisory Group: This committee advises the NCR-SARE Communication Specialist on communications issues.
• Executive Committee (EC): This committee acts on behalf of the AC between AC meetings. It consists of the AC Chair, AC vice chair, TC Chair, two at-large members of the AC, Regional Coordinator (to serve as non-voting, ex-officio member), and the PDP Coordinator (to serve as non-voting, ex-officio member). The AC elects the two at-large members each year; the nominating committee appointed by the AC chair presents a slate of candidates. Once a vice-chair is elected, he or she rotates to chair after a two-year term. Members are elected from AC membership. It is the intention to seek to reflect the diversity of the AC by including representation from Extension, experiment station, farmer-rancher, and at large members. The EC will regularly share information with the AC.
• Farmer Rancher Grant Review Committee: This committee reviews Farmer Rancher grant proposals (currently about 140) and prepares a list of recommended proposals for the AC to consider funding (currently about  40). Membership consists of the farmer and rancher representatives on the AC, and farmers and ranchers from throughout the NCR. Part of the committee rotates off each year and the FRG Coordinator recruits new members.
• Graduate Student Review Committee: This committee is composed of AC volunteers with some external reviewers.  They review proposals submitted in response to NCR-SARE’s call for graduate student proposals (currently about 50) and make funding recommendations to the AC. NCR-SARE currently funds about 20 Graduate Student projects per year.
• Nominating Committee: This committee’s purpose is to help identify and recruit members for the AC and Executive Committee with special attention being given to limited resource and socially disadvantaged audiences.
• Partnership Grant Program Committee: This committee consists of AC volunteers with some external reviewers. They issue the call for proposals and reviews the incoming proposals for the Partnership Grant Program. They recommend proposals to the AC for funding.
• Professional Development Program (PDP) Review Committee: This committee, which consists of AC volunteers and one or two non-AC members recruited by the PDP Coordinator. The committee reviews the PDP competitive grant proposals and recommends a list of proposals for funding to the AC (NCR-SARE funds about 10 PDP competitive grant projects per year). The committee also reviews annual reports and proposed Plans of Work submitted by the NCR State Coordinators and recommends funding to the AC.
• SARE Operations Committee: This is the committee that makes overall policy and budget decisions for SARE. Membership consists of the Regional Coordinator for each SARE region, one Regional PDP Coordinator (elected by the other Regional PDP Coordinators), representatives of several Federal agencies that SARE works with, representatives from the national SARE office and NIFA, and members of each SARE Region’s AC. In the NCR, the AC Chair is the AC representative.
• SARE Outreach Steering Committee: The SARE Outreach Steering Committee provides input on all aspects of SARE's national outreach efforts, including budget development, publication topics, outreach priorities, and long-range planning. Committee members are drawn from around the country to represent the diversity of U.S. agriculture. The regional Communications Specialist serves on this committee, and each regional Administrative Council selects one member to serve on this committee.
• Technical Committee (TC): This committee is specified in the legislation establishing SARE. In the NCR, this approximately 20-person committee reviews Research & Education full grant proposals (currently about 35) and prepares a recommended list of technically acceptable proposals for the AC to consider funding. Terms are three years. NCR-SARE currently allocates about $3.5 million annually for the R&E grant program and funds about 14 projects per year. The Technical Committee chair has a seat on ex officio seat on the AC. Two additional AC members volunteer to serve two-year terms on the TC.
• Youth Educator Committee: This committee is composed of AC volunteers and some external reviewers with an interest in educating youth about sustainable agriculture. They review Youth Educator Grant Program proposals and recommend proposals to the AC for funding. They also engage in outreach for Youth Educators.

NCR-SARE seeks nominees for the seats on its Administrative Council on an annual basis.

Council members must be from one of the 12 states that comprise the North Central SARE region. Those states are IL, IN, IA, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, and WI.

The term for each of these SARE Administrative Council slots is three years. Council members attend two meetings a year, typically 2-3 day meetings in July and Feb./March at various Midwest locations, and also participate in a few conference calls each year. Travel expenses are fully covered for travel to Administrative Council meetings. Nominees should have a basic understanding of sustainable agriculture and be comfortable with reviewing grant proposals and participating in a group decision-making process.

To nominate yourself for a seat on the NCR-SARE Administrative Council, check with the NCR-SARE office to see which positions are open, and then submit the following information using our online form.

• the nominee’s areas of interest or focus in sustainable agriculture
• why the nominee is interested in serving on NCR-SARE's Administrative Council
• the nominee’s experience, affiliations and/or qualifications

Nominations should be submitted online. We will acknowledge receipt of the materials and send a reply regarding the outcome of the election.

NCR-SARE is one of four regional offices that run the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program, a nationwide grants and education program to advance sustainable innovation to American agriculture. Since 1988, NCR-SARE has awarded more than $40 million worth of competitive grants to farmers and ranchers, researchers, educators, public and private institutions, nonprofit groups, and others exploring sustainable agriculture in 12 states. The SARE program is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture — National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA).