The Southern Association of Agricultural Experiment Station Directors (SAAESD) is one of five regional associations with responsibility for facilitating cooperation of regional and national research. The research is supported in part by the Multistate Research Fund (MRF), which is a federal appropriation authorized by the Hatch Act. Additional support comes from other federal programs as well as state and private sources. The research program focuses on regional priorities that are identified and developed jointly by State Agricultural Experiment Station (SAES) Directors, Departmental Chairs and participating scientists.
The SAAESD is a formal coalition of directors of fifteen state agricultural experiment stations (SAES) in the southern US. The southern SAES are located on the campuses of the region’s 15 Land-grant Universities including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. All of these stations contribute to a nationwide research system dedicated to meeting the global challenges associated with agriculture, food systems, natural resources and human nutrition by offering the best available science.
The SAAESD is an autonomous organization that conducts regional activities in alignment with the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) Board on Agricultural Assembly (BAA) through the Experiment Station Section (ESS) and the Experiment Station Committee on Organization and Policy (ESCOP). The SAAESD serves as a liaison between the Southern AES Directors and the USDA regarding initiatives and programs that are funded through the National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA).