VA Professional Development Projects

Virginia SARE receives annual funds to support Extension personnel, USDA service providers and mentor-farmers with scholarships, mini-grants and other programming for professional development purposes. Read below to learn more:

Conference & Travel scholarships

Virginia SARE’s Professional Development Program provides funds to Extension personnel, USDA service providers and mentor-farmers to attend conferences on sustainable agriculture research and education topics. For more information, contact the SARE Program Assistants (see staff information on homepage).

Professional Development Programming

Virginia SARE has supported many other initiatives over the years, including the Virginia Farm to Table Conference, the Virginia Association for Biological Farming, the Virginia Forage and Grassland Council, the Virginia Urban Agriculture Summit, VSU’s Small Farm Conference and Small Farm Field Day as well as various educational opportunities such as bus tours and video production trainings. This program also previously hosted the national SARE Fellow Program.

Mini-PDP grants

Virginia SARE has limited funds to support agricultural professionals to trial sustainable practices. The mini-grants average $1000 per project.