Northeast SARE

What Northeast SARE does

Northeast SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education) is a regional program of the national SARE initiative, operating as a federally funded grants and education body covering 13 states and jurisdictions in the northeastern United States. The program is funded through a cooperative agreement with USDA NIFA (Award No. 2024-38640-42986), with the University of Maryland serving as the primary administrative institution and the University of Vermont Extension hosting the program office. It functions as a non-commercial, extension-style entity: rather than generating revenue from customers, it distributes federal funds to farmers, researchers, educators, and service providers via competitive grants.

The program operates seven competitive grant programs — Farmer Grants, Research and Education Grants, Graduate Student Grants, Professional Development Grants, On-Farm Research/Partnership Grants, Farming Community Grants, and Research for Novel Approaches Grants — and runs a continuous cadence of funding rounds. Recent activity includes $5.9M in 2025 large grants and $850K in 2025 Farmer Grants, followed by $4.58M across 52 projects in Spring 2026 and $1.34M across 24 projects in Summer 2026. Distribution is executed through a network of 16 state coordinators embedded at land-grant universities across the region.

Beyond grant-making, Northeast SARE develops proprietary decision-support tools, including the Cover Crop Decision Support Tool and Adapt-N, which provide agronomic guidance to farmers. The organization employs approximately 10 staff and is led by Regional Director Dr. Teresa Leslie, who succeeded Dr. Vern Grubinger. Its core outputs are grant awards, educational programming, and agronomic decision-support technology; its revenue mechanics are driven by federal appropriations and cooperative-agreement overhead rather than commercial sales.

Name

Northeast SARE

Legal name

Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (Northeast SARE)

Website

https://northeast.sare.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1988

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Northeast SARE is a USDA NIFA-funded regional program administered by the University of Maryland and hosted by the University of Vermont, distributing competitive grants and developing agronomic decision-support tools to advance sustainable agriculture across 13 northeastern U.S. states.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sustainable Agriculture Grants and Education

NAICS

Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Grantmaking Agencies & Education Program Grants Administration (EDADAHAD)

Keywords

• Sustainable agriculture grants
• Farmer research funding
• Agricultural extension education
• Cover crop decision tools
• USDA NIFA programs

Headquarters

HQ city

South Burlington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. USDA NIFA Cooperative Agreement: Northeast SARE is funded through a cooperative agreement with the University of Maryland under USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The program distributes this funding as competitive grants to farmers, educators, service providers, researchers, and graduate students.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Northeast SARE is a regional competitive grants and education program that distributes USDA NIFA funding to farmers, agricultural service providers, researchers, educators, and graduate students across 12 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states plus Washington, D.C. Its core offerings are seven competitive grant programs (Farmer Grant, Partnership Grant, Research and Education, Professional Development, Graduate Student Research, Research for Novel Approaches, and Farming Community) ranging up to $30,000 for smaller grants, plus digital decision-support tools (Cover Crop Decision Support Tool and Adapt-N) and educational resources. The program is hosted by the University of Vermont and administered by the University of Maryland under a cooperative agreement with USDA NIFA.

Product overview

Northeast SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education) is a regional competitive grants and education program administered by the University of Vermont under USDA funding. The program offers a portfolio of seven competitive grant programs (Farmer Grant, Partnership Grant, Research and Education Grant, Professional Development Grant, Graduate Student Research Grant, Research for Novel Approaches Grant, and Farming Community Grant) ranging from $30,000 to multi-year awards supporting farmers, educators, researchers, and agricultural service providers. In addition to grants, Northeast SARE provides educational resources including the Innovations newsletter, decision support tools like the Northeast Cover Crop Decision Support Tool and Adapt-N nitrogen management tool, and coordinates state-based programs through land-grant universities across 12 Northeast states and Washington, D.C.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Farmer Grant Program A competitive grant program providing up to $30,000 for farmer-led research and innovation projects exploring sustainable agriculture techniques. For farmers and ranchers in the Northeast region.
• Partnership Grant Program A grant program offering up to $30,000 for agricultural service providers and organizations to conduct research and education projects in partnership with farmers.
• Research and Education Grant Program A large-scale grant program for researchers and educators conducting comprehensive sustainable agriculture research with farmer involvement.
• Professional Development Grant Program A grant program for agricultural educators and service providers to develop training and professional development resources.
• Graduate Student Research Grant Program A grant program supporting graduate students conducting sustainable agriculture research projects.
• Research for Novel Approaches Grant Program A grant program funding innovative research exploring new concepts and approaches in sustainable agriculture.
• Farming Community Grant Program A grant program supporting farmer organizations and communities in developing sustainable agriculture initiatives.
• Northeast Cover Crop Decision Support Tool An online tool with Cover Crop Explorer providing in-depth information on more than 35 cover crop species, and a Species Selector for selecting cover crops based on plant hardiness zones, field soil and growing conditions, and cover cropping goals. Developed by the Northeast Cover Crops Council with SARE support.
• Adapt-N Nitrogen Management Tool A cloud-based computer tool providing precise nitrogen fertilizer recommendations for grain, silage, and sweet corn production that accounts for seasonal weather conditions.

Quantifiable outcome

• 95,171 farmers and ranchers participated in learning; 38,022 gained knowledge or skills; 4,506 changed a practice
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and supporting.

• University of VermontcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNortheast SARE is hosted by the University of Vermont. UVM provides administrative infrastructure and houses the program's headquarters in South Burlington, VT.
• University of MarylandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNortheast SARE operates under a cooperative agreement with the University of Maryland. The program is subject to UMD Privacy Policy.
• Land-Grant Universities (Regional Network)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNortheast SARE supports state-based programs at each 1862 and 1890 land-grant university across the region, with state coordinators at Delaware State University, University of Maine, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, UMass Extension, UNH Cooperative Extension, Rutgers, Penn State, University of Rhode Island, UVM Extension, University of the District of Columbia, and West Virginia University.
• Northeast Cover Crops Council (NECCC)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNECCC is a group of farmers, researchers, Extension educators, and personnel from nonprofits and industry that encourages cover crop adoption. The Council collaborated with USDA ARS, NRCS, Agricultural Informatics Lab, and Precision Sustainable Agriculture to design the Cover Crop Decision Support Tool with SARE funding.
• USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS)supportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerUSDA ARS collaborated with NECCC and SARE to design the Cover Crop Decision Support Tool.
• USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)supportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerUSDA NRCS collaborated with NECCC and SARE to design the Cover Crop Decision Support Tool.
• Northeast Extension Risk Management Education ProgramsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with Northeast Extension Risk Management Education Program on farm business and legal resources, including employment law guides for New England farmers.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research: Public-private nonprofit that funds agricultural research through competitive grants and partnerships with USDA. Operates a comparable grantmaking model targeting innovation in sustainable agriculture, similar to Northeast SARE's programs.
• National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition: National advocacy coalition that advances federal policy for sustainable agriculture research and education, including SARE appropriations. Directly influences the policy environment in which Northeast SARE operates.
• North Central SARE: Sibling regional SARE program serving the North Central U.S. under identical USDA NIFA cooperative-agreement structure and competitive grant framework as Northeast SARE.
• Western SARE: Fourth regional SARE program covering the Western U.S., operating the same grant programs, governance model, and USDA NIFA funding mechanism as Northeast SARE.
• Southern SARE: One of the four regional SARE programs funded by USDA NIFA, covering the Southern U.S. Operates the same grant program portfolio model as Northeast SARE for a different geography.

Broad incumbents

• Cooperative Extension System: National network of land-grant university extension offices delivering farmer education — directly parallel to Northeast SARE's state-coordinator model and overlapping audience across the Northeast.
• USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS): Federal agency funding and administering conservation programs for farmers. Collaborates with Northeast SARE on cover crop tools and shares overlapping farmer audiences and soil-health objectives.
• SARE National (USDA NIFA): The national SARE program office coordinating the four regional programs and publishing national-level resources (e.g., Building Soils for Better Crops). Provides overarching structure and shared publications for Northeast SARE.

Others

• USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA): Federal parent funder of Northeast SARE under cooperative agreement. Sets the legislative priorities and funding envelope within which Northeast SARE operates — not a peer in the competitive sense but the defining stakeholder.

Emerging players

• Northeast Cover Crops Council: Regional council of farmers, researchers, extension educators, and industry that co-developed the Cover Crop Decision Support Tool with Northeast SARE. Closely aligned mission and overlapping member base.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/NortheastSARE
• Facebookfacebook.com/NortheastSARE
• Instagraminstagram.com/northeastsare
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/northeast-sare

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Northeast SARE