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SRMEC 2018 Grant
Applicant Training
Extension Risk Management Education
(ERME) Program
Ronald Rainey
Director
Southern Risk Management Education Center
University of Arkansas
Website: http://srmec.uaex.edu/
Email: [email protected]
SRMEC RFA• RFA Released: SRMEC RFA was released on
Monday, Sept. 17th.
• Proposals due Nov. 15th, 2018 5:00 p.m. CST
– Educational Project (18-month project),
maximum award $50,000. Traditional educational
outreach project that educates producers in
managing risks.
– Exploratory project, capped at $5,000: This
category supports small exploratory project awards
for up to $5,000 for planning, development, or
piloting efforts.
• Performance Period: April 1, 2019 – Sept.
30, 2020.
Extension Risk Management
Education Areas
•Production
•Marketing
•Financial
•Legal
•Human
ERME Funded Project
Focus: 2002-17
Since 2002, ERME has funded over 9oo projects with at least one project being
funded in every state/territory of U.S.
Extension Risk Management
Education Goals
• ERME’s five risk areas give farmers and
ranchers a process to seek technical
assistance, identify resources and make
informed decisions.
• ERME Aspirational Goals: Enhance
farm and ranch operations and
profitability by successfully managing
agricultural risks.
ERME Aspirational Goals
• PRODUCTION: Enhance understanding of
yield variability, insurance products,
technology, diversification and management
systems to control costs and improve farm or
ranch income.
• MARKETING: Improve producer
understanding and use of commodity price risk
management, product (niche) marketing
strategies, differentiated (branding) marketing
focus and relationship marketing to enhance
farm or ranch viability.
ERME Aspirational Goals
• FINANCE: Grow farmer and rancher capacity
to address strategic business planning,
production cost management, recordkeeping
analysis, asset management and financial
planning to enhance cash flow, profitability and
financial performance.
• LEGAL: Cultivate farmer and rancher ability to
address business organization, contracts,
regulatory policies and liability issues to
manage businesses’ legal risk exposure.
ERME Aspirational Goals
• HUMAN: Develop farmer and rancher
understanding of employee recruitment,
retention and management; internal and
external business communication; business
transition and farm safety systems to improve
business and worker success.
SRMEC Regional Priorities1. Develop and deliver programs and decision tools to help
producers evaluate and implement a transition to new
enterprises or production systems, including enterprise
budgets to evaluate niche markets for specialty crops or
livestock.
2. Teach producers to develop and implement marketing
strategies using appropriate tools such as futures and
options, crop insurance, contracts, direct marketing,
social media, etc.
3. Train producers to understand and implement Food
Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) compliance & Good
Agricultural Practices (GAP) certification for small and/or
family farms.
SRMEC Regional Priorities
4. Develop and deliver programs to help producers
attract, train, and retain employees.
5. Aid producers in avoiding, diagnosing, and
managing financial stress, including financial
stress testing, maintaining access to capital, and
accessing personal & family counseling services.
6. Create programs and tools to aid producers in
water management decisions related to
legislation and regulatory policy, water quality
and quantity, and changing weather patterns.
SRMEC Regional Priorities7. Educate producers to implement effective, safe,
legal, and sustainable use of integrated pest
(insect, disease, weeds) management systems.
8. Assist producers in managing legal risk including
contracts, leasing, labor, liability, and direct
marketing regulatory compliance.
9. Create programs targeting underserved
producers with education and information on the
full scope of USDA agricultural programs as well
as public and private sources of capital and
agricultural technology.
SRMEC Priorities • Listing of these regional priorities does not
reflect a ranking, ALL areas are equally important.
• Projects should focus on a single Aspirational Goal and align project activities that result in producer impacts.
• Projects with clear evaluation plans (qualitative & quantitative) that capture higher level producer impacts (i.e. implement versus understand across the ERME spectrum of producer actions) are ranked relatively higher.
Proposed Results &
Producer Actions
▪ Five levels of producer actions in order of
increasing producer engagement:
1. Understand
2. Analyze
3. Develop
4. Decide
5. Implement
……..KnowledgeShort Term
……….ActionsIntermediate
……….ConditionsLong Term
Focused on Results/Outcomes
• The results based process, including the grant
selection, reporting, and management system,
– increases the probability that the programs we
fund will improve the risk management skills
of the farmers and ranchers who participate,
– is designed to improve the capacity and
quality of the programs we fund,
– increases the opportunities to improve the
economic viability of the farm and ranch
family participants.
Return on Investment
• If the “Return on Investment” of grant dollars
awarded are the risk management
improvements that producers will make…
• Then measuring producer results/outcomes
becomes an integral component of program
planning and design, not an afterthought!
Evaluation Best Practices
• Focus on producer results & outcomes.
• Measure & verify producer results throughout
the life of project (type and timing of
evaluation(s).
• Commit to helping producers reach their risk
management goals (clearly aligned project
activities).
• Document the reported results & outcomes;
capture success stories and quotes.
Ability to Measure
Results/Outcomes• Improve effectiveness by looking at your project
from start to finish in terms of results or outcomes for participants.
• Demonstrate participant achievement of risk management tools and strategies for viewing in a public reporting system (Final reports available on the ExtensionRME.org site and in the Ag Risk Education Library)
• Move the bar higher for the effectiveness (longer term impacts) of risk management education
Extension Risk
Management Education
Mission: Educating America’s farmers
and ranchers to manage the unique
risks of producing food for the world’s
table.• “Investing in Producer Results!”
• “Empower Producers to Manage Risk!”
(Southern)
Success Stories
SRMEC Grant Applicant Training
Budget and Budget Narrative Guidelines
for 2019 RFA
Erica Barnes Fields, MBA
Project Manager
Southern Risk Management Education Center
University of Arkansas
Website: http://srmec.uaex.edu
Email: [email protected]
Overview of Budget Line Items
• Salaries
• Fringe Benefits
• Travel
• Other Direct Costs
• Indirect Costs
• Unallowable Costs
Budget Section A&B
Salaries• Base Salary (all senior/key/other)
– Number of Work Months Paid from Grant
– Calendar or academic/summer year
• Rate of Pay (Executive Level IV)- maximum pay is
$77.84/hour or $161,900/year
– This rate does not include any fringe benefits,
general & administrative or overhead expenses.
– Only persons employed by the recipient
organization should be listed
in this category.
Salaries: Administrative Staff• The salaries of administrative and clerical staff should
normally be treated as indirect (F&A) costs.
• Direct charging of administrative and clerical staff may be
appropriate only if all of the following conditions are met:
1) Administrative or clerical services are integral to a
project or activity;
2) Individuals involved can be specifically identified
3) These costs are explicitly included in the budget or
have the prior written approval of SRMEC;
4) The costs are not recovered as indirect
costs.
Salaries: Student Workers
• Students can be paid an hourly wage
• Students can not be paid for an assistantship
• This grant can not be used to pay a student’s tuition.
Salaries: Fringe Benefits
• Include the total of allowable fringe benefits
Budget Section C: Equipment
Equipment
• The purchase of equipment is not allowed
under the program.
• Equipment is defined as:
• equal to or in excess of $5,000
• having a useful life of more than one year
Budget Section D: Travel
Travel• Provide the following information when you estimate travel
cost:
– Destination
– Purpose
– Number of Travelers
– Estimated Cost Per Trip
Travel, cont.
• Use the GSA Domestic Per Diem Rate Schedule
https://www.gsa.gov/travel/plan-book/per-diem-rates
– Travel and subsistence should be in accordance with
organizational policy.
– Allowances for airfare should not exceed round trip
jet economy air accommodations.
Budget Section E:
Participant/Trainee Support Costs
Budget Section F: Other Direct Costs
(ODC)
ODC: Materials and Supplies
• List the estimated costs of the materials and
supplies
• Materials and Supplies includes:
• Printing of program materials
• Software
• Educational Supplies
• Field Supplies
• Office Supplies
ODC: Publication Costs
• Not Allowed under this program
• Publication Costs includes:
• Costs related to the publishing of articles in
scientific or technical journals
ODC: ConsultantsA CONSULTANT IS SOMEONE WHO RENDERS EXPERT ADVICE
IN HIS/HER FIELD.
• The budget narrative should include the following:
- Consultant’s name
- His/her organization
- A breakdown of the amount being charged to the project
e.g., number of days of service, rate of pay per hour, travel, per diem, etc.).
• Upload the following as part of the application in PDF format:
-Signed Letter of Commitment that also outlines
their Scope of Work, rate of pay, # of hours to
be paid, travel, etc.;
- An abbreviated resume or vita no more than
2 pages in length
ODC: Computer (ADP) Services
• Computer Services are not allowed under the program
• Charges for Internet access are permitted in this category.
ODC:
Sub-Awards/Consortium/Contractual Costs
• Sub-awards are allowed
• Sub-awards should not exceed 49 percent of
the total funds awarded.
ODC:
Sub-Awards/Consortium/Contractual Costs, Cont.
• When a portion of the work proposed will be performed by
outside sources, include the following in the budget
narrative:
– List the total amount of requested funding
• Also provide the following documentation to be uploaded as
part of the application:
– A signed letter of commitment
– A clear Scope of Work outlining their portion of the work
to be completed;
– Separate Budget for their portion of the funding; and
– A detailed Budget Narrative supporting their portion of
the budget.
Other Direct Costs, cont.
– Rental of equipment for the meeting
– Rental of facilities
– Speakers/trainers fees
– Honorariums fees
ODC: Equipment Rental
• For Equipment Rental provide the following
in the budget narrative:
– Information regarding the type of equipment to be
rented;
– The purpose related to the project;
– The length of time needed; and,
– The rental rate
ODC: Facility Rentals
• For Facility Rental costs, provide the following in
the budget narrative:
– Normal monthly rental charge and
– How the rent is pro-rated for the project.
Other Direct Costs
• Communications (mailings, postage, faxes,
telephone)
• Photocopying of materials associated with the
program
• Service/Maintenance Contracts
– Provide details and amount for the service contract
Other Direct Costs, cont.• Conference/Meetings
– Details of costs for each conference or meeting should be broken
out and provided in the budget narrative.
• Speaker/Trainer Fees
– Include the fee and a description of the services they are
providing
• Honorariums Fees
– Provide information regarding the honorarium amount (rate of
pay)
– A brief statement regarding what the person is doing to earn the
honorarium.
Budget Section H:
Indirect costs• Indirect costs may not exceed the lesser of the
institution’s official federally negotiated
indirect cost rate or 30% of the total Federal
funds awarded.
• If the organization does not have a federally
negotiated rate, an F&A rate of 10%
Modified Total Direct Cost (MTDC)
will be allowed.
Cost Sharing/Matching
• This program does not allow cost share or
matching funds.
Unallowable Costs• Alcohol
• Entertainment Costs
• Promotional Items/Giveaways
• Incentives given to entice participation in program
• Rent for grantee owned facilities
• Award Ceremonies
• Receptions
• Proposal Writing Costs
• Meals generally unallowed
Required Documents
• A completed and signed ERME Cover sheet
(SF424)
• ERME Budget Form with Budget Narrative
• Letters of commitment from:
– project collaborators
– consultants and
– sub awards
https://srmec.uaex.edu/Funding/default.aspx
How to Apply
http://extensionrme.org/verification/media.htm
ERME Applicant Resources
https://rvs.umn.edu/Home.aspx
Dates to Remember
• Applications must be submitted by
November 15, 2018 by 5:00:59 pm (CST)
• Successful and unsuccessful applicants will be
notified by February 15, 2019.
• Successful applicants, with finalized sub award
agreements, will begin working on their project by
April 1, 2019
https://srmec.uaex.edu/
