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Best Practices for the Sustainable Urban Farm
For decades, urban farms and community gardens have helped meet the demand for fresh, local produce. Urban farms are diverse and adaptable, ranging from small farms on repurposed vacant lots to multilevel vertical farms and rooftop gardens. Often, they combine ecological farming practices with some form of infrastructure. Urban growers make clever use of their […]
New SARE Video: Ecological Weed Management at the Martens Farm
Farmers nationwide are tackling the challenge of using ecological principles to manage weeds using fewer herbicides. Understanding the biology of weeds is key to helping producers adopt innovative strategies that achieve strong yields while adapting to changing consumer preferences. Three new videos from SARE illustrate how Klaas and Mary-Howell Martens manage weeds without chemicals on […]
SARE Welcomes New Fellows
The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program announces the addition of four new members to the SARE Fellows program. Each member represents a different region of the United States. SARE Fellows is a two year professional development experience that helps agricultural educators enhance their understanding of sustainable agriculture and build relationships with farmers and […]
Planting Seeds of Help
Despite years of experience, fifth-generation flower farmer Leroy Hardy was facing foreclosure on his farm near Sedley, Virginia. To navigate the financial crisis, Hardy reached out to Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI) for mediation assistance, and he emerged with his assets intact. So when RAFI, the Land Loss Prevention Project (LLPP) and the National Center […]
New Cover Crop Survey Data Challenges Assumptions on Role of Incentive Payments
Adapted from the Conservation Technology Information Center: A new national survey report has found that the vast majority of farmers who use cover crops don't need incentive payments to continue with the practice because of how much they appreciate its value to their land and business. According to the National Cover Crop Survey, incentives play a key […]
Choosing the Right Tools For Your Farm
A manual created by Ain Chike and Georgia Organics outlines hand tools, small engines, their utility descriptions and where to source them for growers in the Southeast. It allows readers to understand each tool and their practical uses. This short 4-page PDF acts as a overview for important tools to ensure efficient and productive yields […]
The Peri-Urban Agriculture Network: Strategies for Agricultural Viability in Urbanizing and High-Land-Use-Pressure Regions
Many peri-urban regions in the western U.S. are in a state of acute juxtaposition between formerly rural agricultural communities and growing, modern urban centers. Urbanization challenges agricultural viability through land use pressures and a slow unraveling of historically land-based economies and culture. These agricultural circumstances can be very destabilizing and highlight the need for agriculture […]
Guide to Honey Bee Queen Banking
This guide will walk you through the step-by-step process of establishing and maintaining a queen bank. The guide starts with the basics and walks the reader through each step to create a successful honey bank that includes a queen bee. Because queen bees are so critical in maintaining a bank, beekeepers center their focus on […]
Farm Education for the Deaf Community—Introduction (American Sign Language)
In this video, Monu introduces the video series created to provide farm education to the deaf community. The series is available in both in American Sign Language and Nepali Sign Language.
Racial Equity in Extension webinar series
Recordings of six live webinars with panel discussions on topics geared toward a professional Extension or technical service provider audience in the U.S. (with focus on California). Topics range from 1) building relationships with farmworkers and farmers of color as Extension clientele, to 2) the world views and perspectives on sustainable agriculture of indigenous and […]
Virginia Hosts National SARE Fellows Tour and Training
The sustainability of farms and food-related businesses can be affected by many agricultural, social, ecological, financial, and cultural factors and issues that can vary from state to state and from region to region. These issues range from market access and development needs to production challenges, lack of food system infrastructure such as aggregation and processing, […]
New SARE Bulletin: What is Sustainable Agriculture?
SARE’s newly revised What is Sustainable Agriculture? publication provides a primer to practices that can help farmers and ranchers improve the sustainability of any complex, integrated production and marketing system.
New SARE Video: Ecological Weed Management at Terra Preta Farm
Understanding the biology of weeds is key to managing these troublesome pests using ecological principles. Cultural practices such as crop rotations and cover crops paired with smart cultivation have helped many farmers successfully manage weeds while reducing or eliminating herbicide use. In three new videos from SARE, Shakera and Juan Raygoza share their experience controlling […]
New Book: Farming With Soil Life: A Handbook for Supporting Soil Invertebrates and Soil Health on Farms
Smart farmers know that healthy soil hosts a flourishing and diverse ecosystem of bacteria, fungi and invertebrates. But the complex relationships between soil life, productivity and resilience are not well understood. Now available from the Xerces Society and SARE, Farming with Soil Life: A Handbook for Supporting Soil Invertebrates and Soil Health on Farms is […]
SARE Seeks Projects for Sustainable Agriculture Outreach
Do you have an idea for an educational product or outreach initiative that could help farmers or ranchers improve their profitability, environmental stewardship and/or quality of life? Maybe a suggestion for filling an information gap that is hindering the adoption of sustainable practices? SARE Outreach wants to hear from you today! SARE Outreach is seeking recommendations for information products […]
New SARE Bulletin: Resilient Farmers, Ranchers and Communities
Sustainable farming emphasizes the need to consider the environmental, economic and social impacts of agriculture. For decades, sustainable agriculture research has focused more on environmental stewardship and profitability than on personal and social issues. SARE’s newest bulletin, Resilient Farmers, Ranchers and Communities: Social Sustainability in Agriculture, describes how an increasing number of farmers and ranchers […]
USDA Invests Over $46M in Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education
The University of Maryland has been selected to serve as the National Reporting, Coordinating, and Communications Office (NRCCO) for the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. This 10-year investment is being made as part of the USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) selection of four regional host institutions to manage SARE's regional […]
What is Sustainable Agriculture?
This award-winning report provides a sampler of best practices in sustainable agriculture—from marketing and community vitality to cover crops and grazing—as well as eight profiles of producers, educators and researchers who have successfully implemented them.
America's Heartland "Leaders in Sustainable Agriculture" Now Available on YouTube
SARE recently partnered with PBS KVIE to produce an episode of RFD-TV's America's Heartland featuring four farmers describing their commitment to sustainability, how they plan to overcome modern farming challenges, and how SARE has impacted their farming and ranching practices. The full 24-minute episode titled Leaders in Sustainable Agriculture is now available at https://www.sare.org/resources/leaders-in-sustainable-agriculture/. Watch: Videos featuring each […]
Leaders in Sustainable Agriculture Featured on America's Heartland
SARE partnered with PBS KVIE to produce an episode of RFD-TV's America's Heartland that features four farmers describing their commitment to sustainability, how they plan to meet farming challenges of today and tomorrow, and how SARE has impacted their farming and ranching practices. The full 24-minute video is available, as is each segment featuring the […]