The Ceres Trust, a private charity-based trust that supports the advancement of sustainable and organic agriculture, recently announced that they will be accepting applications for their competitive Organic Research Initiative, worth up to $10,000 each, until May 1, 2013. The ORI, now in its fourth year, is available to graduate and Ph.D. students planning to do research in the Midwest during research roughly in the time frame of the 2013-14 calendar year.

The goal of the research of a successful applicant will help to achieve one or more of the following: 1) improve organic farm systems; 2) facilitate the transition of conventional farms to organic methods; or 3) help make existing organic farms more productive and profitable. Applicants are also expected to conduct their research on operating organic farms in conjunction with organic farmers, as well as present their finding by at least September 30, 2014.

The sum the Ceres Group is offering is hefty, and so, logically, the application process looks to be demanding and competitive. Full information on the grants can be found on the trust’s website in pdf form. Remember, the deadline is May 1, which is still a ways off, but these sort of things tend to sneak up on you. Get on it now, and save the future you a lot of time and worry.