Fact Sheets

Moving Nursery Producers Toward Sustainable Practices Fact Sheets

These fact sheets discuss alternative containers, marketing and crop selection, alternatives to synthetic herbicides and integrated pest management in commercial nursery plant production.

Alternative Continuous-Cover Dairy Forage System for Profitability, Flexibility and Soil Health

In a SARE-funded study in New York, a team of farmers, researchers and consultants addressed economic, labor and weather constraints in dairy farm rotations by developing an alternative forage cropping system with multiple options to produce high-quality forages. This system produces forage with yields comparable to traditional cropping systems, and is based on soil health management.

Cover Crops and No-Till Management for Organic Systems

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.

Tomato Grafting for Disease Resistance and Increased Productivity

Researchers around the world have demonstrated that grafting—the fusing of a scion (young shoot) onto a resistant rootstock—can protect plants against a variety of soil-borne fungal, bacterial, viral and nematode diseases invarious climates and conditions.

Sheep Grazing to Manage Crop Residues, Insects and Weeds in Northern Plains Grain and Alfalfa Systems

In a SARE-funded project coordinated by Montana State University, researchers have demonstrated that using sheep to graze crop residue and summer fallow can help address insect, weed and residue management challenges.

Sustainable Control of Internal Parasites in Small Ruminant Production

Small ruminants (sheep and goats) are adaptable to many different production systems and can be raised with relatively few inputs, but they face huge production challenges. Control of internal parasites, especially gastrointestinal nematodes including Haemonchus contortus (barberpole worm, stomach worm), is a primary concern for many sheep and goat producers and is particularly challenging in humid regions.

Biological Control of Pecan Weevils in the Southeast

This fact sheet provides an alternative control strategy for pecan growers who, for a variety of reasons, find conventional spraying of insecticides unsuitable. This includes organic growers, and owners of dooryard trees, small orchards and commercial orchards who have concerns regarding spray drift.

High Tunnel Temperature Management

Temperature management is one of the most critical factors in successful production of many high tunnel crops. This West Virginia University fact sheet includes recommended temperature ranges for common crops.

Reduced Tillage and Cover Cropping Systems for Organic Vegetable Production

This information sheet captures research by Virginia Tech and the Virginia Association for Biological Farming to develop cover crop-based, reduced-tillage systems for organic vegetable production.

Cover Cropping: On-Farm, Solar-Powered Soil Building

This information sheet gives an overview of how to use cover crops to maintain good levels of nutrients and organic matter in the soil.

Using Manually Operated Seeders for Precision Cover Crop Plantings on the Small Farm

This information sheet describes research in Virginia on using inexpensive, manually operated seeders to establish consistent cover crop stands.

Cover Crops for All Seasons

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.

Production and Marketing of Beach Plum, a Heritage Fruit Crop

Beach plum (Prunus maritima Marsh) is one of several shrubby plums native to North America. The jams produced from this fruit command premium prices at farm stands and specialty markets, even in comparison with jam made from other locally grown fruit. However, the wild-collected supply of fruit does not meet this niche market’s demand.

Polyculture and Reservoir Ranching

The purpose of this fact sheet is to describe two production systems, polyculture and reservoir ranching, that show promise of becoming popular methods for increasing fish production and profits in inland waters compared to a traditional monoculture system.

Organic Insect Management in Sweet Corn

This fact sheet discusses an integrated strategy for controlling three caterpillar species—corn earworm, European corn borer and fall armyworm—using methods that meet current organic certification standards. Any grower interested in methods that are safe for the applicator and the environment may be interested in this approach.

Cultural Practices for Root-Knot and Root-Lesion Nematode Suppression in Vegetable Crop Rotations

This publication discusses the use of non-host crops, sorghum sudangrass and castor bean grown as cover crops, RKN-resistant crops, and the application of poultry litter (PL) and PL compost to manage RKN and root-lesion nematode.

In-House Composting in High-Rise, Caged Layer Facilities

This fact sheet describes research on composting manure inside of the buildings housing laying hens. Research showed that the addition of a carbon source coupled with frequent aeration of compost in a layer house produced temperatures high enough to inhibit fly reproduction in the material, and odor problems are diminished.