Minnesota SARE Travel Scholarships
Who can apply?
Minnesota SARE offers Travel Scholarships to agricultural professionals (i.e., Extension, NRCS, state and tribal agencies, NGOs, etc.) and farmers to participate in professional development opportunities that are related to sustainable agriculture and the Minnesota SARE Initiatives: adapting to food system disruptions, building resilient local food systems, supporting farmers, and/or addressing farm labor.
What can a Travel Scholarship be used for?
Travel Scholarships are intended to assist ag professionals and farmers to explore topics in sustainable agriculture that are new to them by attending a conference or event. A travel request meets the professional development requirement if the applicant has a plan to share the new information they learned with others via outreach events, presentations, articles, etc.
Priority is given to those who have not previously used a Minnesota SARE Travel Scholarship to attend a conference or event. The Travel Scholarship cannot fund international travel.
Amount and Budget
Travel Scholarships of up to $500 can be awarded. Funds can be used for expenses related to travel, including conference registration, lodging, meals, airfare, mileage, rental vehicle, or rideshare.
Recognition
Recipients are asked to list NCR-SARE as a sponsor during outreach and include the NCR-SARE logo where appropriate.
Reporting Requirements
To receive payment, Travel Scholarship recipients are required to complete a short survey after the conference or event to describe how you will use the information in your work, what type of outreach you will conduct (newsletter, blog, presentation, answering client questions, field days, etc.), and how many people (farmers, educators, others) with whom you’ll share the information. We will follow-up again 6-9 months later to measure this impact.
Application
Your application form will be reviewed by the Minnesota Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Advisory Committee. You may be contacted by the SARE coordinator for more information or clarification before a final decision is made on funding. The following criteria will be used in the review:
- Does the conference or event relate to sustainable agriculture?
- Will attending or participating result in new knowledge or skills for the educator or farmer?
- Does the attendee have a strong outreach and education plan to share the knowledge that is learned?
- Does it relate to the current MN SARE initiatives?
- Adapting to food system disruptions
- Building resilient local food systems
- Supporting farmers
- Addressing farm labor
Travel Scholarship Timelines
Applications Accepted
- July 1 through August 8, 2025
Applicants Informed
- September 12, 2025
Forms