West

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.

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 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 […]