Author: Sean McGovern

Every year since 2007, USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Extension program (SARE) and the National Association of County Agriculture Agents (NACAA) has offered a national Fellows program. The program is designed for Extension faculty who are interested in learning more about sustainable agriculture in different parts of the country. Eight Fellows, two from each of the four SARE regions, meet twice a year for a week at a time, for tours and workshops. In early June, the Fellows visited Oregon, visiting various farms and research sites with Small Farms Extension faculty Maud Powell and Heidi Noordijk. Additionally, Small Farms Extension Faculty Amy Garrett, who is one of the current Fellows, participated in the tour.

The goal of the program is to enhance understanding of sustainable agriculture through broad-based training and hands- on exposure to successful and unique sustainable agriculture programs. Participating Fellows are better able to create new programs that meet the needs of their local clientele upon returning to their home states.

SARE Fellows this year hail from New Hampshire, South Dakota, Maryland, Texas, Kentucky, Oregon, and Indiana. Additionally, SARE coordinators from Delaware and North Dakota attended.

The tour included visits to various sites in Oregon including Mt. Hood Organics outside of Mt. Hood, LaMancha Farm in Sweet Home and the Double J Jerseys Ranch in Monmouth. Fellows also toured many of the demonstration sites of the researchers at the North Willamette Research and Extension Center in Aurora, as well as one of Amy Garrett’s dry farm plots in Corvallis.

In the middle of the week, the Fellows spent half a day visiting Persephone Farm in Lebanon and taking a deeper dive into the farm’s sustainable agriculture practices. With the guidance of Oregon Tilth staff member Tanya Murry, they brainstormed ideas for increasing the profitability of certain crops. Finally, the Fellows visited Newport, where they took a “dock walk”, learned about OSU Extension’s Sea Grant program and got to try Dungeness crab. Over dinner on their final night, the Fellows remarked on Oregon’s beauty and the inspiring farmers and Extension faculty they had met over the course of the week.

Adapted from "SARE Fellows Visit Oregon!" Oregon State University Extension Service 

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas – Central Arkansas was the location for the spring 2015 tour for the SARE/NACAA Sustainable Agriculture Fellows program, where Cooperative Extension agents from across the country spent several days learning more about sustainable agriculture concepts.

The program, sponsored by Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) and the National Association of County Agricultural Agents (NACAA), challenges county agents to assess strengths, weaknesses, and relevant sustainable agriculture applications in current agricultural systems. A major component involves tours aimed at exposing agents to the huge diversity of sustainability in practice.

This spring’s program brought participants to farms in Arkansas and was hosted by the University of Arkansas.

“Even though I’m an Extension livestock specialist, on our SARE Fellows tour I could see how the concepts of sustainability apply across all types of agricultural enterprises,” said SARE Fellows Susan Kerr, northwest livestock and dairy regional specialist at Washington State University. “We saw excellent examples of IPM (Integrated Pest Management) on a berry farm; a vegetable farm with high social capital but production challenges; a grazing operation that was under utilizing its grass resources; and a tree nut farm where the savvy owner kept close track of international market trends so he could capture a high price for his product.”

During the tour, SARE Fellows used the Reading the Farm training tool to conduct in-depth analyses on North Pulaski Farm, an organic vegetable and fruit farm north of Little Rock. Reading the Farm looks at farms as whole systems; participants learn to assess how economic, environmental, and social factors interconnect and influence farmer decision-making.

"The Reading the Farm exercise completely changed my perspective relative to assessing the social and economic aspects of farming sustainability,” said SARE Fellows Patrick Byers, regional horticulture specialist with University of Missouri Extension. “This tool has already benefited me in my programming efforts with farmers in Missouri, and would without a doubt benefit my MU Extension colleagues.”

Fellows also toured several other agricultural production systems in Arkansas. These farms and systems included Wye Mountain Flowers and Berries, which grows flowers and U-pick blueberries and blackberries; Heifer Ranch; a pecan orchard; and rice production on an agronomic farm.

They also met with the co-chair of the University of Arkansas' Arkansas Discovery Farms program to learn how the university is working with farms to collect data and make recommendations.

About the SARE/NACAA Sustainable Agriculture Fellows program. The two-year Fellows program provides a training opportunity that enhances understanding of sustainable agriculture and provides broad-based, national exposure to successful and unique sustainable agriculture programs. Participating Fellows are better able to create new programs that meet the needs of their local clientele. Learn more about the Sustainable Agriculture Fellows program, including biographies of current Fellows.

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Published by the Southern Region of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. Funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Southern SARE operates under cooperative agreements with the University of Georgia, Fort Valley State University, and the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture to offer competitive grants to advance sustainable agriculture in America's Southern region.