SBARE Role in Distributing the ARF
SBARE will track the balance in the ARF that will vary from year to year. The amount in the fund as of July 1 of each year will be available for distribution. While commodity committees will review, select, and award grants, SBARE will be responsible for:
- Appointing Grant Committees - July 1
- Apportioning the ARF into commodity (70%), animal (18%), and new/emerging crops (12%); and parsing the commodity funds by relative contribution to gross sales based on the ND Ag Statistics Service Annual Publication (SBARE Minutes February 9, 1998) - August 1
- Issuing a Call for Proposals - beginning August 1. Normally the call will be coordinated with the corresponding commodity group.
- Annual progress reports for multi-year projects are due at the end of the first year of the project. For annual renewal of multi-year projects, investigators need to submit only an annual progress report, descriptions of changes in the scope of work, and an updated budget. Annual progress reports are required prior to the consideration of renewed funding for multi-year projects.
- Receiving/logging/filing project completion reports are due 90 days after the end of the funding period.
- Ensuring commodity grant committees meet and award grants expeditiously. Every effort will be made to accommodate established procedures within each commodity granting process but, the awards must be made and an agreement executed before June 30 of each year. Researchers may be seeking matching funds from a commodity group directly, so commodity groups may need to consider ARF requests concurrently with other proposals not eligible for ARF. SBARE encourages awarding of grants by March 1 for crops research. Early awards can allow recipients to plan and engage in field research in the upcoming crop season rather than delaying the process one year.
- Ensuring that successful proposals are in compliance with federal and state regulations that govern the conduct of research. Maintain records on all ARF grant awards and lists of research requests for accounting purposes.
- Preparing summary reports as required by OMB, SBHE, or other cognizant authority.