Quality of Life

A farm is to a beginning farmer what a blank canvas is to an aspiring artist, which makes it no wonder that beginning farmers and ranchers are some of agriculture’s greatest innovators and experimenters. In fact, studies have found that most innovation takes place within the first five years of a farmer’s operation. SARE has made fostering the next generation and its ingenuity a priority.

Bringing the business planning process alive, Building a Sustainable Business: A Guide to Developing a Business Plan for Farms and Rural Businesses helps today's alternative and sustainable agriculture entrepreneurs transform farm-grown inspiration into profitable enterprises.

This short documentary follows the story of the Batalden-Smith family, a three generation Minnesota family who grow and locally press organic Camelina Oil.

Hundreds of farmers in Appalachia making the switch to sustainable methods have received vital help from SARE-supported Appalachian Sustainable Development.

How to Direct Market Your Beef portrays how one couple used its family’s ranch to launch a profitable, grass-based beef operation focused on direct market sales.

The New Entry Sustainable Farming Project, supported by SARE grants, has helped dozens of small farmers in Massachusetts establish their roots.

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.

A 16-page bulletin intended to be a resource for agricultural educators, heads of community development and agricultural organizations, government agency staff and others who want to better connect with and improve the lives of farmers and ranchers who remain hard to reach.

“Can a Jewish girl from Brooklyn, NY, have anything to say about the future of agriculture?” asked Ohio farmer Shoshanah Inwood of Columbus. The answer to her question must be a resounding “yes” since Inwood won the SARE 2008 New Voices Contest.

In support of SARE’s mission to advance sustainable practices and innovations to the whole of American agriculture, SARE’s 2008 New Voices Contest called for written, audio, and or video submissions that articulated new perspectives and illustrated an inspirational and pioneering vision for the advancement of sustainable agriculture over the next 20 years.

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

For decades, John Allen has helped farmers develop business skills and strategies, improving their profitability and helping to revitalize rural communities.

Promoting Local Food

Southern SARE and the Social Sciences

Order an entire set of SARE Outreach books and bulletins for one low price.

This 60-page checksheet is designed to help sheep and goat farmers evaluate and improve the sustainability of their farm management, use of resources and quality of life.

Spirit Car is a memoir that blends fiction and carefully researched history. This book retraces Diane Wilson's family’s Dakota heritage across five generations.

The San Joaquin Valley of California is one of the most productive and diverse agricultural areas in the country. However, Daniel O’Connell of the Sequoia Riverlands Trust (SRT), along with local producers, gathered data that identified challenges in building a healthier regional food system.  These challenges, similar those many other regions face, included  lack of infrastructure to provide for adequate distribution channels, minimal awareness by consumers about where and how to access product in the region,  land use decisions on the urban-rural edge that impacted farmers with pressures that drove up land and production costs, and the Valley’s disconnect from broader, statewide food systems thought, policy changes and economic benefits from localized trends like value-added processing.

Sustainable Community Innovation Grants

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.

In one complete volume, this must-have resource for direct market producers covers the latest tips and trends from leading-edge sellers, managers and market planners all over the country.

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.

Will Allen is using innovative soil-building techniques and educational programs to lead the way in urban agriculture.

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.

This full-color book profiles 50 inspiring young people—one from every state—who are revitalizing rural America with new enterprises.