Crop Production
Organic Production and Marketing of Forest Medicinals
Type: North Central SARE From the Field Profile
The scope of this NCR-SARE Research and Education project was designed to assist the Roots of Appalachia Growers Association (RAGA) develop a learning network among growers, to close the gap between growers and current research activities, and support RAGA entering the marketplace.
A Sunn Hemp Cover Crop for Soil Health and Nematode Management
Type: Western SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
These University of Hawaii fact sheets and virtual field day explain how to use sunn hemp as a cover crop to control weeds, nematodes and other pests, add soil nutrients, prevent erosion, and contribute to a more robust and complex community of beneficial nematodes.
Adding Cover Crops to a No-Till System
Dan Forgey
Type: Multimedia
South Dakota farm manager Dan Forgey has improved soil quality and the bottom line by successfully introducing cover crops to his long-term no-till system.
Agroecosystem Approach to Managing Imported Cabbage Worm
FW06-025, Helen Atthowe, Montana
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Air-Propelled Abrasive Grit Management Video
Type: North Central SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
Air-Propelled Abrasive Grit Management (PAGMan) is a new technique for postemergence weed control in organic row crops. This video from SARE grantee Frank Forcella at the USDA-ARS Soils Lab shows PAGman in action.
Alternative Pollinators
Type: North Central SARE Portfolio Brief Sheet
Honeybee losses, compounded with rising rental rates for pollination, are a concern for many producers. Not only are growers looking for alternative pollinators to improve crop security, but they also want to learn how to manage on-farm habitats for native bees and other pollinators. Since 1988, NCR-SARE has supported researchers, educators, and producers who are researching, rearing, and managing species that provide pollination alternatives to the declining honey bee.
Aquaponics
Type: North Central SARE Promotional Product
Aquaculture is the cultivation of fish and aquatic animals and plants. Aquaponics is a bio-integrated system that links recirculating aquaculture with hydroponic vegetable, flower, and/or herb production. In aquaponics, nutrient-rich effluent from fish tanks is used to fertigate hydroponic production beds. SARE has supported recent advances by producers, researchers, and educators that are helping to make aquaculture and aquaponics into working models of sustainable production.
Award Winning Farm Family Conducts Research and Outreach on Traditional Hmong Herbs
Type: North Central SARE From the Field Profile
In Minnesota, Mhonpaj Lee, NCR-SARE Farmer Rancher grant recipient, is researching and documenting information about traditional Hmong herbs. In addition to her job as a translator at Hennepin County Medical Center, Lee farms with her family. They are currently offering shares from the first certified organic Hmong owned and operated Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) operation.
Backpack Sprayers for Small-Scale Farms
Type: Northeast SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
Backpack sprayers are a boon to farmers on small acreage, but not all sprayers are created equal. Video series.
Beneficial Insect Guide
Type: North Central SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
A printed guide to insect conservation on fruit farms.
Bramble Variety Trials in Utah to Reduce Disease, Increase Production and Enhance Profitability
FW07-315, Rick Heflebower, Utah
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Buckwheat Cover Crop Handbook
A precise tool for weed management on Northeastern farms
Type: Northeast SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
Buckwheat has been used to suppress weeds on Northeastern farms for 400 years. This handbook outlines how to use buckwheat as an economical weed-control tool, with recommendations based on extensive grower surveys, original research and on-farm trials.
Building Soils for Better Crops, 3rd Edition
Sustainable Soil Management
Type: Book
Building Soils for Better Crops is a one-of-a-kind, practical guide to ecological soil management, now expanded and in full color.
Camelina: Seed to Oil Video
Type: North Central SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
This short documentary follows the story of the Batalden-Smith family, a three generation Minnesota family who grow and locally press organic Camelina Oil.
Choosing the Best Figs for Hawaii
FW07-034, Ken Love
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Comparison of Cover Crop Establishment Methods
Type: North Central SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
This research report from Practical Farmers of Iowa presents data about a cover of hairy vetch, tillage radish and rapeseed established in strips by both aerial seeding into standing soybeans and drilling after soybean harvest.
Constructing a Herbarium
EW97-018, Don Vargo, American Samoa
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Cover Cropping: On-Farm, Solar-Powered Soil Building
Type: Southern SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
This information sheet gives an overview of how to use cover crops to maintain good levels of nutrients and organic matter in the soil.
Cover Crops and Conservation Tillage
New American Farm Conference Breakout Session
Type: Presentation
Cover cropping and reduced tillage are core tenets of sustainable farming. Learn from one of No-Till Farmer magazine’s “No-Till” Innovator award winners—plus latest research about creative strategies for these important sustainable ag techniques.
Cover Crops and No-Till Management for Organic Systems
Type: Northeast SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
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.
Cover Crops do Double Duty: Cover and Grain
Type: North Central SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
In this research report from Practical Farmers of Iowa, a variety of winter small grains were tested as cover crops in the fall of 2010 to determine if these grains could be effective cover crops and also produce a quality grain crop, even though planted at a later than optimal date for typical grain planting. Most of the winter cover crop varieties tested effectively established, overwintered, and yielded grain the following summer.
Cover Crops for All Seasons
Expanding the cover crop tool box for organic vegetable producers
Type: Southern SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
This Virginia Association for Biological Farming information sheet provides research-based information on a cover crop “toolbox” from which growers can select cover crops most suited to their regions and production systems.
Cover Crops for Soil Health and Nutrient Conservation and Update on the PSU Cover Crop Interseeder
Type: Northeast SARE Multimedia
Dr. Sjoerd Duiker presents how cover crops can be used to conserve nutrients over the winter, reduce erosion, and replace nitrogen fertilizer needs in the following crop. Dr. Greg Roth presents an update on the Penn State Cover Crop Interseeder, including results from field trials testing the establishment of different cover crop species when interseeded into standing corn crop.
Cover Crops Survey Analysis
Type: North Central SARE Presentation
Cover crop adoption has been increasing rapidly in the last 5 years, with an estimated 1.5 to 2.0 million acres of cover crops planted in the U.S. in 2012. To learn more about this trend, during the winter of 2012-13, the Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC) carried out an NCR-SARE-funded survey of farmers who have grown cover crops. This analysis includes results from that survey.
Creating a Culture of Bamboo
FW04-114, Rich von Wellsheim
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Crop Rotation
Type: North Central SARE Portfolio Brief Sheet
Crop rotation is the ancient practice of growing a wide variety of crops in a sequential system throughout a field in order to avoid a buildup of disease and pests. Strategic crop rotations can help producers promote good soil health by alternating crops with different nutrient needs and benefit overall soil structure by breaking up subsoil by alternating deep and shallow rooting plants. NCR-SARE has valued research and education projects that study the applications of crop rotation-including improving soil quality and health, and managing pest, diseases, and weeds.
Crop Rotation on Organic Farms
A Planning Manual
Type: Book
Crop Rotation on Organic Farms: A Planning Manual provides an in-depth review of crop rotation, including how it improves soil quality and health and helps manage pests, diseases and weeds.
Dakota Farmer's Success Catches On
Type: North Central SARE From the Field Profile
Dan Forgey uses no-till, cover crops and crop rotations to build soil health, manage weeds and maximize rainfall.
Developing an Effective Strategy for Management of Internal Discoloration of Horseradish Root
Type: North Central SARE From the Field Profile
This study was conducted to develop an effective method for management of internal discoloration of horseradish roots. Internal discoloration of horseradish is a disease complex caused by at least three fungi, Verticillium dahliae, V. longisporum, and Fusarium solani. These fungi are carried in the propagating roots (set-borne inoculum) and also survive in the soil (soil-borne inoculum).
Development and Dissemination of a Cowpea Cultivar for Cover Crops
SW02-034, Milt McGiffen, California
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Development and Dissemination of a Cowpea Cultivar for Cover Crops
SW02-034, Milt McGiffen, California
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Development of a Sustainable Polyculture and Marketing System for Exotic Tropical Fruits
SW03-055, Richard Bowen, Hawaii
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Development of Sustainable Crop and Livestock Production Systems for Land in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)
SW97-033, Rex Kirksey, New Mexico
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Diversifying Cropping Systems
Type: Bulletin
This bulletin describes some of the many agronomic crop alternatives, with plentiful examples of on-farm successes.
Diversity & Intensity of Cover Crop Systems: Managing Weed Seed Bank & Soil Health
New American Farm Conference Poster
Type: Poster
Diversity & Intensity of Cover Crop Systems: Managing Weed Seed Bank & Soil Health, presented by Ellen Mallory (Maine).
Diversity Initiatives Underway
Type: North Central SARE From the Field Profile
Funded in 2005 through the Farmer Rancher Grant Program, Pov Huns’ high tunnel project, “Can Screened High Tunnels Extend the Growing Season of Bitter Melon in the Midwest?” (FNC05-551) aimed to determine whether pest control and season extension could make a tropical vegetable such as bitter melon protable by using a high tunnel on his Kansas City farm.
Does a C3-C4 Forage Mix Simultaneously Improve Forage Production and Carbon Sequestration?
Type: North Central SARE From the Field Profile
University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate student, Herika Kummel, conducted an experiment in two restored prairies in southern Wisconsin to assess their carbon sequestration potential under a gradient of warm-season grass (C4) to cool-season (C3) pasture grass ratios. The sites were the Bison Ridge Ranch in Marquette County and the Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trial (WICST) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Arlington Agricultural Research Station in Columbia County.
Double Cropping Field Peas May Offer Economic Sustainability for Midwest Swine Producers
Type: North Central SARE From the Field Profile
Research at Iowa State University (ISU) may be good news for swine producers who have been facing high grain prices. Coordinated by Jim Fawcett, the team’s recent research at ISU has demonstrated that field peas can be utilized as a partial substitute for soybean meal or corn in swine diets.
Dryland Cover Cropping Boosts Yields
Type: North Central SARE From the Field Profile
Nebraska farmers Keith and Brian Berns found they could use cover crops in dryland farming to increase corn yields, and now are sharing their knowledge.
Elderberries
Type: Portfolio Brief Sheet
As opportunities have emerged to increase both the production and processing of elderberry across the value chain, the historically medicinal plant is gaining popularity among farmers. With the resurgence of elderberry cultivation in the North Central region and the rest of the United States, NCR-SARE has funded a variety of projects featuring elderberries.
Enhancing Phyto-nutrient Content, Yield, and Quality of Vegetables with Compost Tea in the Tropics
SW07-073, Ted Radovich
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Estimating Nitrogen Contributions from Cover Crops
FW06-301, N. Andrews, Oregon
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Estimating Plant-Available Nitrogen Release from Cover Crops
Type: Western SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
This Oregon State University fact sheet explains the basics of plant-available nitrogen (PAN); when to kill cover crops for the maximum PAN benefit; step-by-step instructions on how to perform site-specific measurements to predict PAN from your cover crop; and case studies from the Willamette Valley.
Evaluation of Asparagus as a New Commercial Crop for Hawaii
SW96-003, Susan Schenck
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Evaluation of Camelina Sativa as an Alternative Seed Crop and Feedstock for Biofuel and Replacement Heifers
SW07-049, Bret Hess, Wyoming
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Evaluation of Supplemental Flowering Plant Strips for Sustainable Enhancement of Beneficial Insects
Type: North Central SARE From the Field Profile
The primary short-term goal of this graduate student grant project was to test a strategy for utilization of native plants to increase biodiversity in a perennial fruit system. This project is of particular relevance to specialty crop farmers that are under pressure to reduce pesticide inputs while also producing the highest quality food.
EverCrisp: A New Apple Variety in the Midwest
Type: From the Field Profile
A grassroots apple-breeding program has released its first apple variety, EverCrisp. The variety was bred by the Midwest Apple Improvement Association (MAIA), a group of more than 140 apple growers who are interested in developing new varieties for the Midwest.
Experiential Curricula in Sustainable Agriculture Topics
Resources for Instructors
Type: Online Course/Curriculum
These in-depth training manuals, produced by the University of California Santa Cruz, help instructors conduct hands-on teaching in organic farming and gardening, direct marketing, and small-farm business planning.
Experimental Farm Helps North Carolina Farmers
Type: Southern SARE From the Field Profile
The Center for Environmental Farming Systems has produced a wealth of valuable data through its farm systems research units.
Extending Irrigated Alfalfa Stand Life and Long-Term Profitability by Alteration of Late-Season Harvest Schedule
SW02-002, Robert Hammon, Colorado
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Extending Use of Hedgerows
EW03-007, Sam Earnshaw, California
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Extension Agent Dynamo + Farmer Ingenuity = Great Solutions
Type: Northeast SARE From the Field Profile
University of Vermont Extension Specialist Heather Darby partners with colleagues and farmers to advance research in biofuel production, organic grains for dairies, and value-added wheat for local bakeries.
Farm Energy Production and Use Between Two Iowa Cropping Systems
Type: North Central SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
Practical Farmers of Iowa compared two cropping systems for three years in northwest Iowa to examine differences in the energy expended and the biofuel produced. Analysis of fossil fuel flow reveals that a more diverse cropping system was significantly more energy efficient than continuous corn.
Farm in North Central Michigan is the First to Produce Canola Oil in the State
B&B Farms find success in first season as canola growers
Type: North Central SARE From the Field Profile
Dan and Bonnie Blackledge have started a canola oil business on their farm in Marion, Michigan. B & B Farms Canola Oil’s first pressing was only about 50 gallons, but it stands out as the first canola oil grown and pressed in Michigan.
Farmer/Researcher Team Makes Organic Peanut Breakthrough
Type: Southern SARE From the Field Profile
Overcoming weed challenges, Georgia farmer Relinda Walker brings the Southeast's first crop of certified organic peanuts to market.
Forage Winter Wheat Production for Grazing or Hay Production in Eight Montana Counties
FW05-012, George Reich, Montana
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Forage Winter Wheat Production for Hay or Grain in Gallatin County
FW04-018, George Reich, Montana
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Fruit and Berry Crop Trial Program for Native Alaskan Rural Communities in Interior Alaska
SW06-111, Meriam Karlsson and Kendra Calhoun, Alaska
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Grant Puts (Good) Crimp in Farm Operations
Type: Northeast SARE From the Field Profile
It all began in 2002 with a $6,500 SARE grant and the seed of an idea: a no-till tractor implement that rolls, crimps and kills cover crops, creating a weed suppressing mulch.
Grazing Strategies to Control Medusahead in California
SW06-038, Emilio Laca, California
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Greenhouse Water Barrier
FW04-302, Pete Terlaje, Guam
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Growing and Marketing Elderberries in Missouri
Type: North Central SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
To support the producer decision-making process for on-farm and value-added elderberry enterprise opportunities, the University of Missouri has developed a production and marketing guide, a financial decision support tool, videos on elderberry wine production, and more.
Growing Cover Crops with a Cash Crop
Dan Forgey
Type: Multimedia
Dan Forgey describes how he grows cover crop mixes in synch with a cash crop of corn, and gets strong yields without chemical fertilizer.
Harvest Frequency, Yield, and Economics of Summer Squash
FW06-042, Karen Strickler, Idaho
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Helping to Institutionalize Organics as a Conservation Practice in NRCS
EW03-004, Rex Dufour, California
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Hillsdale Winter Harvest Farmers Market
FW04-108, Aaron Bolster, Oregon
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
How to Manage the Blue Orchard Bee
Type: Book
How to Manage the Blue Orchard Bee explains how to use this alternative pollinator successfully, including nesting, rearing and wintering, how to manage predators, and more. Available only online.
Illinois Researchers Explore Use of Sorghum-Sudangrass In the Battle Against Weeds
Type: North Central SARE From the Field Profile
Researchers at the University of Illinois are using sorghum-sudangrass as a summer smother crop in the battle against aggressive perennial weeds.
Increasing Crop Water Efficiency in Advanced No-Till Systems
SW02-005, Perry Miller, Montana
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Increasing Sustainable Production in Polynesian Islands
FW02-040, Ivona Ballard, American Samoa
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Increasing the Value of Products from Small Family Farms by Enriching the Culinary Experience of the Local Consumer
FW01-021, Glenn Shinsato
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Influence of Cover Crops on Insect Pests and Predators in Conservation Tillage Cotton
Type: Southern SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
Results of a two-year research project to determine the impact of several cover crops on pest and predator insects in conservation tillage cotton.
Integrated Pest Management and Sustainable Grape Production in Sonoma County
FW03-007, Nick Frey, California
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Interseeding Forage Kochia in Established CRP Land for Enhanced Livestock and Wildlife Utilization
FW06-012, Ron Harper, Utah
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Invertebrate Pests and Their Natural Enemies in Conservation Tillage Cropping Systems
Type: Northeast SARE Multimedia
In this webinar by Dr. Mary Barbercheck and Maggie Douglas, learn the basics about key early-season insect and slug pests that can pose problems in conservation tillage systems with high amounts of cover crop residues and how crop management practices can help reduce pest damage. Also, learn about ongoing research into naturally-occurring predators of early season insects and slugs and how best to conserve them.
Iowa Farmers Utilize Alternative Crop to Develop New Opportunities for Small Family Farms
Type: North Central SARE From the Field Profile
In Missouri Valley, IA, Vaughn and Cindy Pittz have been developing the opportunity for small family farms to utilize the aronia berry as a sustainable organic alternative crop at Sawmill Hollow Organic Farms, located 6 miles north of Missouri Valley, Iowa in Harrison County.
Low-Till Forage Production
Type: Western SARE From the Field Profile
Jeff Mitchell of the University of California Kearny Agricultural Center, was awarded a Western SARE Professional + Producer Grant to evaluate and refine strip-till and no-till planting systems for corn forage production and no-till drill winter forage planting at the San Joaquin Valley in terms of crop establishment, weed control and profitability.
Luta Windbreak/Agroforestry
FW01-091, Ephram Taimanao, Northern Mariana Islands
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Manage Insects on Your Farm
A Guide to Ecological Strategies
Type: Book
While every farming system is unique, the principles of ecological pest management apply universally. Manage Insects on Your Farm highlights ecological strategies that improve your farm’s natural defenses and encourage beneficial insects to attack your worst pests.
Managing Alternative Pollinators
A Handbook for Beekeepers, Growers and Conservationists
Type: Book
Managing Alternative Pollinators: A Handbook for Beekeepers, Growers and Conservationists is a first-of-its-kind, step-by-step, full-color guide for rearing and managing bumble bees, mason bees, leafcutter bees and other bee species that provide pollination alternatives to the rapidly declining honey bee.
Managing Cover Crops Profitably, 3rd Edition
Type: Book
Managing Cover Crops Profitably explores how and why cover crops work and provides all the information needed to build cover crops into any farming operation.
Missouri Farmer Develops Sustainable Irrigation System for Organic Vegetable Production Systems
Type: North Central SARE From the Field Profile
In Ashland, MO, Dan Kuebler is creating an affordable, efficient, and sustainable irrigation system for a two acre organic vegetable operation. Since 1977, Dan Kuebler has been running a certified organic garden operation in Ashland.
Missouri Producer Envisions Future Fiber Fuel Jobs
Type: North Central SARE From the Field Profile
In Kingsville, MO, a perennial and native seed crop producer has been developing and processing energy crops and agricultural residues into biomass engineered fiber fuel, and now he and other producers in MO could help determine the future of cellulosicbased biofuels.
Mixed Crop-Livestock Farming Systems for the Inland Noarthwest U.S.
EW06-066, Lynne Carpenter-Boggs, Washington
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Moving Nursery Producers Toward Sustainable Practices Video Series
Type: Southern SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
This video series describes measures nursery producers can take to improve sustainability in the areas of irrigation, energy use, runoff, recycling and more.
Multi-Crops on Plant Beds on Guam
FW06-026, Laila Pierson, Guam
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Mustard Green Manures for Potato Production
SW03-018, Andy McGuire, Washington
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Native Seed Production for Crop Diversification
SW04-084, Ron Godin, Colorado
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
New weed control tools for smaller farms
Type: Northeast SARE From the Field Profile
Weeds can be challenging without rightsized mechanization.
Nitrogen Management with Cover Crop Mixtures
Type: Northeast SARE Multimedia
Charlie White, of Penn State Extension, presents case studies of how mixtures of different cover crop types performed at supplying nitrogen to a following corn crop and reducing nitrate leaching into the subsoil. Tools to assess nitrogen supplied by cover crops to the next cash crop are also discussed.
Nitrogen-Fixing Species in Hedgerow Intercropping in the Marianas
SW99-048, Mari Marutani, Guam
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
No-Till and Organic
New American Farm Conference Breakout Session
Type: Presentation
No longer are no-till and organic at odds. New research efforts are developing no-till organic vegetable and field crops systems that are saving farmers tons of soil and reducing weed control costs.
No-Till Farmer: Steward of the Land
Dan Forgey
Type: Multimedia
Dan Forgey has farmed for 40 years based on the belief that if you take care of the land, it will take care of you, evidenced by his commitment to no-till, cover crops and crop diversity.
NOFA Handbooks
Type: Northeast SARE Book
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.
North Dakota Farming Family Uses Livestock to Restore the Land
Type: North Central SARE From the Field Profile
A group of farmers in Wimbledon, ND are working to turn a conventional chemically dependent farm into a fertile, sustainable, organic, farming unit. What started as a farm restoration project for the sake of their beef market ended by using all of the livestock to restore the soil.
Nutrient Management in Corn Production
Type: Northeast SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
These Cornell University agronomy fact sheets describe soil and corn stalk testing, nitrogen use and other aspects of nutrient management in corn production.
Optimizing Weed Suppression and Nutrient Use Efficiency in Cover Crop-Based No-Till Organic Corn
Type: Northeast SARE Multimedia
In this webinar, Hanna Poffenbarger of the University of Maryland and Steven Mirsky of the USDA-ARS Sustainable Agriculture Systems Lab discuss optimizing cover crop mixture composition and manure application to achieve weed suppression and adequate, efficient nitrogen delivery in a cover crop-based no-till corn system.
Organic Fertilizer and Cover Crop Calculator
Type: Western SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
This free online tool compares the nutrient value and cost of cover crops, organic and synthetic fertilizers and compost. Use this Excel Calculator to develop well balanced and cost effective nutrient management programs for your farm.
Organic Horticulture Training for the Southeast
Type: Southern SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
An interactive website to assist ag professionals in developing and demonstrating successful organic education programs, teaching principles in organic agriculture.
Organic Seed, Soils and Sustainable Business
Type: Western SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
This project provided agricultural professionals with more knowledge of organic seed, soil management and sustainable business practices. From the trainings, a webinar and tutorial were developed.
Organic Sweet Corn IPM: A 15-Year Project
New American Farm Conference Poster
Type: Poster
Organic Sweet Corn IPM: A 15-Year Project, presented by Ruth Hazzard (Massachusetts).
Ospud: Farmer Participatory Research
SW05-091, Dan Sullivan, Oregon
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Outreach Effort in MN and IA Promotes Cover Crop Adoption
Type: North Central SARE From the Field Profile
Practical Farmers of Iowa and Rural Advantage partnered to disseminate information to farmers and key participants through farmer field schools utilizing hands-on experience and practice, crop field days, and workshops to tell neighbors about cover crops. The project began in 2009, and the outreach is resulting in more landowners understanding the multiple benefits of installing these conservation practices.
Place-Based Foods of Appalachia
From Rarity to Community Restoration and Market Recovery
Type: Southern SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
A publication to foster recognition of the Appalachia region and encourage preservation of heirloom seed varieties.
Planting Your Own Corn Breeding Nursery Video
Type: North Central SARE Multimedia
This video from Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society explains how to plan, layout, and plant a home corn breeding nursery.
Pollinators Take Center Stage at Xerces Society Workshops
Type: North Central SARE From the Field Profile
Honeybee losses, compounded with rising rental rates for pollination, are a concern for many producers. Not only are growers looking for alternative pollinators to improve crop security, but they also want to learn how to manage on-farm habitats for native bees and other pollinators.
Powerpoint: Efficiency of Alternate Furrow Irrigation Is It an Alternative?
Type: Western SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
Very promising results were obtained from the 2010 and 2011 trials on alternate furrow irrigation for increasing crop water use efficiency in tomatoes without a yield decrease. Learn more from this Powerpoint presentation.
Production of Drought-Adapted Intermountain Native Plants Through Low-Cost in-Ground Containers for Emerging Western Markets
SW01-020, Roger Kjelgren, Utah
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Propagation of Indigenous Lingonberries for Sustainable Development
FW98-064, Vickie Talbot, Alaska
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Research and Demonstration on Banana Production Technologies in Micronesia
SW05-053, Aurora G. Del Rosario, Palau
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Researchers and Educators Collaborate to Teach Youth about Cover Crops
Type: North Central SARE From the Field Profile
Across the region, farmers are planting cover crops, method of revitalizing soil, curbing erosion, and managing pests. Steve Sutera, an Extension educator at South Dakota State University (SDSU), saw an opportunity to bring together Bon Homme County’s Extension service, FFA Chapter, 4-H Club, and ongoing research at SDSU.
Resource Guide for Organic Insect and Disease Management
Type: Northeast SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
Crop management,fact sheets, and extensive appendices.
Rice Growing Manual for the Northeast USA
Type: Northeast SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
By Takeshi and Linda Akaogi, this manual focuses on those aspects of rice growing that are particular to the northeast area based on their experience.
Role of Cover Crops in Converting Perennial Pasture to Vegetable Ground
Type: North Central SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
In West Branch, Iowa, Scattergood Farm converted pasture from perennial alfalfa and clover to vegetable crop ground from summer 2010 to spring 2011. This research report from Practical Farmers of Iowa summarizes the effects of two cover crops or no cover crop on numbers of weeds and compaction measured by soil density in a vegetable crop following a transition from a pasture. Farm manager, Mark Quee, felt the cover crops assisted his conversion from pasture ground to vegetable plots. He felt the cover crops helped build soil and reduced weed pressure significantly in preparation for vegetable plants.
SARE Publications Kit
Type: National SARE Promotional Product
Order an entire set of SARE Outreach books and bulletins for one low price.
Screening Open-Pollinated Vegetable Varieties for Local Markets in North Dakota
Type: North Central SARE From the Field Profile
Marvin Baker, Theresa Podoll, and Steve Zwinger received an NCR-SARE Farmer Rancher grant to increase the number of open-pollinated vegetable varietal choices well-suited to organic production systems and local markets in North Dakota. They screened and identified dozens of varieties of interest to North Dakota market growers.
Season Extension Experiment
FW06-012, Rick Heflebower, Utah
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Seed Corn Production: Traditional, Non-Traditional and Hybrid Varieties
A Midwest Homecoming Conference Session
Type: Presentation
Consider seed corn production as a value added and socially meaningful enterprise that expands markets for organically grown seed and food corn. With a focus on saving and breeding traditional varieties, management.
Semiochemical-Based Trapping Method for Weevil Pests on Guam
Type: Western SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
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.
Simple P Test Yields Millions in Savings
Type: Northeast SARE From the Field Profile
Corn growers across New York have together cut their use of starter phosphorous by tens of millions of pounds, thanks to SARE-funded Cornell University research.
Smart Water Use on Your Farm or Ranch
Type: Bulletin
As producers throughout the nation grow increasingly concerned about water scarcity, farmers, ranchers and agricultural educators are beginning to explore new, conservation-oriented approaches to water use.
South Dakota Corn Best Management Practices
Type: North Central SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
This publication provides a guide for selecting best management practices that consider both production and environmental-sustainability goals for corn production in South Dakota.
Specialty Crops
Type: North Central SARE Portfolio Brief Sheet
From Aronia berries to apples, wine grapes to bitter melon, NCR-SARE-funded research is hepling specialty crop farmers across the region use sustainable practices to battle pests, tap into lucrative markets, and increase yields. Sixteen percent of NCR-SARE’s 20-year research portfolio has been devoted to growing fruits, nuts, vegetables and other specialty crops in ways that boost profits, protect the land, and strengthen communities.
Species Profiles for Pacific Island Agroforestry
EW02-001, Craig Elevitch, Hawaii
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Species Profiles for Pacific Island Agroforestry
EW02-001, Craig Elevitch, Hawaii
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Spring Seedbed Characteristics after Winter-Killed Cover Crops
Type: Northeast SARE Multimedia
Dr. Ray Weil and Natalie Lounsbury have been investigating the possibility of no-till planting early spring vegetables such as spinach and lettuce after a forage radish cover crop without the use of herbicides. They discuss soil moisture, temperature and nutrient status in early spring as well as seedling emergence and yield.
Steel in the Field
A Farmer's Guide to Weed Management Tools
Type: Book
Weed control demands time, labor and expense for every farmer every year. Steel in the Field shows how today's implements and techniques can control weeds while reducing—or eliminating—herbicides. Available only online.
Strengthening Sustainable Agriculture Programming with American Indian Producers in the West
EW05-005, Staci Emm & Loretta Singletary, Nevada
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Strengthening Through Education the Sustainability of Solanaceous Crop Production
SW99-047, Robert Schlub, Guam
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Student Studies Soil Management and Organic Blueberry Production in Michigan
Type: North Central SARE From the Field Profile
Michigan State University (MSU) graduate student, Jesse Sadowsky, received an NCR-SARE $9,900 Graduate Student Grant to conduct an observational study to examine the effects of both organic and conventional management on plant health and soil biology in blueberry fields in Michigan.
Sunn Hemp and Its Allelopathic Compounds for Vegetable Production in Hawaii and Beyond
SW08-037, Koon-Hui Wang
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Survival of Taro: Agronomic and Pathological Research for Sustainable Production
SW99-005, Janice Uchida
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Sustainable Agriculture Farming Systems Project
Type: Western SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
A quarterly newsletter and 24-minute video outlining this long-term systems project researching the transition to organic production.
Sustainable Crop Production
A Midwest Homecoming Conference Session
Type: Presentation
Individual presentations on sustainable potato production, integrated vegetable systems, organic farmer networks and pesticide reduction.
Sustainable Forage and Livestock System for the Island of Tinian
SW06-042, Allan Sabaldica, Northern Mariana Islands
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Sustainable Small-Acreage Farming from Field to Table
EW04-015, Debra Kollock, Oregon
Type: Western SARE Project Summary
Tackling the Thorny Issues, Linking Practitioners
Type: Northeast SARE From the Field Profile
Anu Rangarajan, of Cornell University, is advancing the next generation of organic agriculture through research, training and by connecting farmers and educators.
Tea Time in the Tropics
A handbook for compost tea production and use
Type: Western SARE Grantee-Produced Info Product
The purpose of this book is to critically evaluate the phenomenon of compost tea from three general perspectives: growers, researchers and industry. By integrating these perspectives into a cumulative experience, the authors hope to improve the understanding of the potential and limitations of this technology from scientific, economic and practical points of view.
The New American Farmer, 2nd Edition
Profiles of Agricultural Innovation
Type: Book
Hailing from small vegetable farms, cattle ranches and grain farms covering thousands of acres, the producers in The New American Farmer, 2nd edition have embraced new sustainable approaches to agriculture.
The Nicodemus Homecoming
Type: North Central SARE From the Field Profile
Tucked away in the sprawling prairies of Northwestern Kansas is a town not unlike thousands of other rural communities spread across the country. It is a town built on agriculture that has subsisted for over 130 years on the determination of its citizens and their love of the land. The only outward sign that sets this community apart from the other towns around it is that its citizens are predominately African American. They have their roots in the post-Civil War movement which freed millions of individuals from plantation slavery. Their town is called Nicodemus.
The Ogallala Aquifer of the Texas High Plains: A Race Against Time
The Texas Alliance for Water Conservation
Type: Multimedia
As the drought in the Texas High Plains continues to intensify, a unique partnership of producers and researchers is working diligently to find economically viable alternatives to the region’s irrigation-dependent crop monocultures.
