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When the farming system deviates from a conventional corn-soybean rotation, the usual division of costs and returns in a 50-50 crop share lease may no longer fairly reflect the inputs of each party. This sheet demonstrates how crop share agreements can be adapted for sustainable and organic agriculture.

This toolkit provides a decision making tool (the matrix) to guide communities toward developing their own standard of sustainability and criteria for meeting that standard.

This colorful, richly illustrated booklet offers an introduction to beneficial natural enemies and their use in pest management.

In Creating Change in the Food System, the authors present a case study of an integrated effort to build long-term local and regional food commerce in Iowa using a community of practice approach.

This publication was created to provide information that will help producers explore the many choices available for today’s dairy farms. This book is not intended to be a how-to dairy guide or manual. While there is no one-size-fits-all answer for dairy farmers seeking success as milk producers, there are many options that can be profitable and satisfying.

This informative book contains history and present day stories about how food is regarded as the medicine and economic staple of the Anishinaabeg people.

Provides an outline of how management recommendations are developed and how a ground-based active sensor can be used. It contains 24 case studies (exercises) ranging from using historical techniques to overcome production barrier to calculating soil organic carbon maintenance requirements.  A CD containing data sets is included with the book.

Includes curriculum materials, extension bulletins, resource lists, and a greenhouse energy model that were developed with the intention that educators can use the materials in full or part to deliver programming on energy management and conservation for greenhouse production.

See how prairies can benefit farms and find the steps necessary to establish and manage prairies. Look at various uses for prairies: livestock grazing, hay production, biomass feedstocks, and carbon sequestering.

Weed biology and ecology can help every farmer become a better weed manager. This guide is the result of a series of winter meetings attended by Michigan farmers, MSU Extension agents and research scientists. It brings together field-tested experience from successful growers and Extension agents and insights distilled from more than 50 years of weed science research.

A graduate student from North Dakota State University created these five extension fact sheets after monitoring and reporting on the riparian ecosystem associated with the Middle Sheyenne River, a perennial stream in eastern North Dakota.

Options in grass may be the most profitable for CRP land when the long term cost of erosion is considered. Get the details on six income options: CRP, two rotational grazing options, two crop options (rotational corn/soybean), and alfalfa/orchard grass hay.

Charles Francis, editor, compiles a current look at what we know about organic farming practices and systems, primarily from the U.S. and Canadian perspectives.

Transitioning to organic farming? Already switched, but needing to update your farm plan? Get step-by-step help in this workbook from Ohio State's Organic Food and Farming Education and Research (OFFER) Program.

Raising poultry on pasture instead of in a barn or other permanent structure is an increasingly popular enterprise for hobby and small farmers across the country. This bulletin features the Day-Range system, which consists of a mobile pen that is kept inside a fenced area. The birds are free to roam within the fenced-area during the day and are put in the mobile pen at night if predators are a problem. The mobile pen is moved daily to prevent accumulation of manure and the fence is moved as necessary to provide access to fresh pasture.

Poultry Your Way is for anyone interested in commercially raising, processing, and marketing poultry. It is designed to help you consider alternatives, and to help you make decisions about which alternative(s) will be most compatible with your family and business goals.

This Iowa State University video/fact sheet describes how to build a system to catch, store and reuse the rainwater for irrigation in a high tunnel.

This publication provides a guide for selecting best management practices that consider both production and environmental-sustainability goals for corn production in South Dakota.

This multi-page fact sheet describes basic parasite biology for gastrointestinal worms acquired by sheep and goats on pastures, and provides several strategies for managing internal parasitism. 

Woodchip bioreactors, installed at the edge of agricultural fields, can remove 15 to 60 percent of the nitrate in tile-drained water annually. This innovative approach for protecting the water quality in Midwest streams and rivers is described in a new fact sheet available from Iowa State University.

A 17-chapter manual covering a wide range of high tunnel production topics. For purchase only.

Backpack sprayers are a boon to farmers on small acreage, but not all sprayers are created equal. 

This presentation presents an overview of key pest management topics: cultural practices, plant resistance, the use of beneficial insects, grafting and sprays.

This Rodale Institute fact sheet reviews the use of cover crops and no-till in organic systems, including selection, establishment and mechanical termination of cover crops; crop rotations; and energy and production budgets.

Detailed information on high tunnel construction, with specific considerations for West Virginia.

The Farmers Market Federation of New York has offers this comprehensive training resource, the Farmers Market Managers Training Manual. This manual is the product of a three-year training effort funded through a Northeast SARE Professional Development grant.

A guide for towns, institutions, and land trusts using or leasing farmland.

This presentation summarizes a 2008 grant to evaluate ‘Maxifort’ rootstock for its ability to manage verticillium wilt and other soil-borne diseases.

An in-depth manual designed to help greenhouse growers implement biological control and integrated pest management (IPM).

Audio/slideshow presentation by Lewis Jett, West Virginia Extension Service, on the use of high tunnels for winter crop production.

Includes case studies, a supplier list and chapters on marketing, site selection, construction and types, and soil, pest and environmental management.

Local Harvest: A Multifarm CSA Handbook offers straightforward guidance on cooperative marketing, an innovative practice that is helping CSAs stay strong and viable over the long term.

Marketing is an essential component of any successful composting operation, along with best practices and a commitment to quality.

A series of eight handbooks for new farmers or established producers seeking to transition to organic or improve their current practices. Print only; order from Chelsea Green.

A presentation of research on biological control methods in New York, including cultural practices, plant resistance, grafting, rotations, sprays and beneficials.

This 70-page guide outlines profitable production techniques and research on everbearing strawberry varieties.

A 12-page guide to producing these gourmet mushrooms.

A University of Massachusetts web page with information on integrated pest management (IPM), a practical way to effectively manage pests on vegetable bedding plants.

A 16-page booklet that helps organic farmers understand their soil test results and use these results wisely and compliantly, within the USDA National Organic Program standards. 

The pumpkin field, the prison, the classroom, and the interstate are just a few of the places where sustainability and community values converge. With an Ear to the Ground introduces us to farmers, chefs, educators, visiting Russians, and kids and the experiences thay share about food and the natural world. Print only; order from Northeast SARE.

An eight-minute video that explores the benefits of alternative tillage techniques in corn grown for biofuels.

FAMACHA is a diagnostic tool to help farmers identify parasite infection in small ruminants, allowing them to cut the cost of deworming agents by targeting treatments only to infected animals. Training is required before purchase.

Learn about tomato grafting and how it can be used to manage diseases in organic open-field and high tunnel systems.

This video presents information on the high tunnel production system most commonly used in Kentucky; the disease cycle of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum; and two control tactics compatible with national organic standards, solarization and biofumigation.

An interactive website to assist ag professionals in developing and demonstrating successful organic education programs, teaching principles in organic agriculture.

A publication to foster recognition of the Appalachia region and encourage preservation of heirloom seed varieties.

A 16-page guidebook covering all aspects of sweetpotato production in Kentucky.

Specs, diagrams and photos of high tunnel construction, by Utah State University Cooperative Extension.

This farmer-created, consumer-oriented website lists hundreds of farms and ranches around the country that offer accommodations.

Hour-long webinar on design, summer and winter production, economics and needed research related to high tunnels.

Journal article discussing research trials involving day-neutral cultivars, high tunnels, low tunnels and targeted heating in North Logan, Utah, to extend the availability of local strawberries.

This Extension educator curriculum focuses on successful strategies for increasing the adoption of sustainable practices on reservation lands. 

This multimedia project includes four video segments on the economics of behavior. They are: 1) Improve Rangeland Use and Profitability: Using Low Moisture Block to Extend the Grazing Season, 2) Reduce Feed Costs and Improve Feed Efficiency: Let Animals Mix their Own Diets, 3) Improve Rangeland Use and Profitability: Herding and Low Stress Handling, and 4) Cost Effective Weed Management: Training Cows to Eat Them.

Semiochemical-based trapping methods were developed for the control of the banana weevil (Cosmopolites sordidus), the New Guinea sugarcane weevil (Rhabdoscelus obscurus) and the sweetpotato weevil (Cylas formicarius) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). Photos of trapping systems, as well as trapping dates, were collected and developed into an instruction manual along with the developed methods.

Utah State University fact sheet series includes raspberries, lettuce, summer squash, tomatoes and strawberries.

The purpose of the guidebook is to assist the rancher and/or land manager use business planning and ecological monitoring to ensure the ranch or land is managed in a sustainable manner. Material focuses on:

• Business planning
• Financial and ecological monitoring
• Assessment of ranch management