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Letter
From The Director
Since 1988, USDA's Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program
has made great strides toward increasing scientific understanding and promoting
practical uses to manage sustainable agriculture systems.
In the past decade, SARE has funded close to 1,200 projects that examine how
to improve profitability, protect natural resources and foster more viable communities
across the nation and U.S. Island Protectorates. Most of the projects were led
by university-based researchers -- working in concert with farmers, ranchers
and Extension educators -- who added an "on-the-ground" pragmatism to the science.
As the program matured, producers, Extension educators and nonprofit organizations
began leading their own projects.
We wish we had more space to devote to the many successes of the SARE program
that have directly impacted farmers and ranchers. SARE's work in soil management,
cover crops, integrated crop and livestock systems, management-intensive grazing,
pest management and innovative horticultural practices truly has made a difference
on the agricultural landscape. Here is just a sampling:
An Oregon vegetable farmer found better sweet corn yields after using a variety
of cover crops, then strip-tilling corn into the cover residue the following
spring, a set of practices he learned by working with a SARE researcher.
In Indiana, an Extension agent and former conventional corn-and-soybean farmer
is converting to an organic vegetable operation to realize more profits and
a better relationship with the community after attending a SARE-funded professional
development workshop.
A Vermont couple replaced synthetic herbicides with weed cultivation in their
field corn after learning about profitable dairying strategies from a SARE project
creating case studies of successful, sustainable dairy farms.
Researchers in Virginia dramatically decreased nutrient loading and sedimentation
entering a New River tributary by setting up spring-fed watering troughs as
part of a SARE study on management-intensive grazing for cattle.
SARE operates on principles of inclusion, partnership and participation. Not
only does each project include farmer input, but farmers and ranchers participate
on technical review committees and administrative councils made up of a diverse
group of ag professionals in each region. Those committees and councils assume
responsibility for recommending a slate of projects each year that best meet
the needs of each SARE region.
Partners in the sustainable agriculture movement, from representatives of nonprofit
conservation organizations to colleagues at federal and state agencies, have
lent their expertise to this process. And a participatory approach that began
as an innovation in 1988 has become a proven -- and emulated -- model 10 years
later.
While this 10-year anniversary is a time for some well-deserved praise to the
hundreds of people who have been involved with SARE, many challenges remain
on the path toward agricultural sustainability.
How should SARE undertake research and education in the context of whole-farm
systems?
How can SARE incorporate appropriate uses of new technology, such as precision
agriculture?
In what ways can SARE enhance and build new partnerships to enhance sustainable
agriculture?
Can SARE have an impact beyond the farm gate to address watersheds, community
food systems and other issues of importance to the public at large?
And finally, how can SARE continue to influence conventional agriculture to
become more sustainable?
Answering some of those difficult questions will certainly keep SARE and its
many collaborators challenged through the next decade and beyond.
Jill Auburn
SARE Director
March 1998
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