Showing 241-260 of 278 results

Urban Farmers Adopt More Efficient Soil Management Practices
THE CHALLENGE When it comes to keeping their soils healthy and productive, most farmers willingly put in the work. For urban growers like Adam and Melissa Millsap, who operate Urban Roots Farm, an intensive production system on less than one acre near downtown Springfield, Missouri, soil management can come with unique challenges. They say that […]
COVID-19 and NCR-SARE Grant-Related Events
NCR-SARE has been hearing from many NCR-SARE grant recipients who had ambitious plans for outreach events this spring, wondering how to proceed given COVID-19 concerns. Rest assured that our primary concern is your health and the health of your communities, and we advise you to follow the recommendations of your institutions or state departments of […]
SARE Funding in Your State
Since 1988, the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program has helped farmers, ranchers, researchers and educators develop cutting edge innovations that improve farm profitability, protect water and land, and revitalize communities. Funded by the United States Department of Agriculture's National Institute for Food and Agriculture, SARE has awarded nearly $300 million to more than 7,300 […]

The Future of Agriculture Depends on New Faces and New Ideas
"I grew up on this farm and had no desire to become a farmer,” says Liz Brownlee, talking about a 250-family property near Crothersville, Ind. But eventually, Brownlee and her husband Nate came to see farming as the ideal way to combine a passion for food with an ethic of environmental stewardship. SARE’s 2019/2020 Report from […]
NCR-SARE Announces 2020 Call for Graduate Student Grant Proposals
The 2020 NCR-SARE Graduate Student Grant Call for Proposals is now available online. Applicants can view a presentation about applying for a Graduate Student grant. Graduate students enrolled at colleges or universities in the North Central region can submit proposals for up to $15,000 to fund sustainable agriculture projects that will be part of their educational […]
NCR-SARE Announces 2020 Call for Professional Development Program Grant Proposals
The 2020 NCR-SARE Professional Development Program call for proposals is now available online. NCR-SARE’s Professional Development Program (PDP) provides funds for professional development projects that provide sustainable agriculture training to agricultural professionals and educators in the Cooperative Extension Service (CES), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), other governmental agencies, and educators in the profit and non-profit sector […]
NCR-SARE Offers Funding for Regional Conferences or Educational Events
Are you hosting a sustainable agriculture conference or educational event that needs some support? The North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NCR-SARE) program has limited funds available to support conferences and educational events relevant to sustainable agriculture. To qualify, events should specifically serve the 12-state North Central Region (either in entirety, or a […]
En Espanol
Western SARE promueve la protección los recursos naturales y biológicos sobre los cuáles se basa la agricultura, la mejoría de la calidad de vida en comunidades rurales, y el incremento en las ganancias de las operaciones agrícolas, invirtiendo en proyectos innovativos de investigación y educación en agricultura sustentable. Western SARE apoya proyectos generados por productores, […]
NCR-SARE Announces 2019 Research & Education, Graduate Student, and Professional Development Awards
The North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NCR-SARE) Program is pleased to announce the projects selected for funding for the Research and Education, Graduate Student, and Professional Development competitive grant programs. 49 projects were awarded a total of more than $4 million through these three NCR-SARE grant programs, which offer competitive grants for researchers, graduate students, organizations, […]

Free Fact Sheets Identify Broad Benefits of Cover Crops
Along with cutting costs and increasing crop productivity, cover crops provide various ecosystem services that benefit the environment both on and off the farm. For instance, adding cover crops to a rotation can significantly increase the portion of the year when living roots are present for soil organisms to feed on, which can have a […]

Cover Crop Economics Report Now Available in Print
Cover Crops Offer Options in Wet Soil As more farmers across the nation begin to incorporate covers into their rotations, they find that this valuable conservation practice pays in more ways than one. Many farmers in states suffering from oversaturated fields that prevented or delayed planting are considering cover crops. To help farmers evaluate the […]

IPM for Coffee Berry Borer
When the coffee berry borer arrived in Hawaii 2010, Suzanne Shriner had a hard conversation with her parents. “I sat down with them at the kitchen table and told them we might have to get out of the coffee business,” she remembered. “It was a pretty sober moment, and it wouldn’t have been a good […]

When Do Cover Crops Pay? New USDA-SARE Report Addresses the Question
Farmers around the country are planting cover crops on millions of acres to protect and improve the soil, and the more that farmers use cover crops, the more they value this conservation practice. Cover Crop Economics, a new report published by USDA-SARE looks at the economics of cover crops to help farmers answer that big […]
Barbara James Norman and Jim Stordahl Receive NCR-SARE's 2019 Hero Recognition
In 2012, the NCR-SARE Administrative Council created the NCR-SARE Hero Recognition to highlight, recognize, and pay tribute to those who have made significant contributions to NCR-SARE and/or National SARE. NCR-SARE is pleased to announce that Barbara James Norman and Jim Stordahl have been named the 2019 NCR-SARE Heroes. The NCR-SARE Hero Award recognizes individuals who […]
New Release: Sustainable Production and Use of On-Farm Energy
Missouri fruit grower Dan West hated seeing so much wasted fruit littering his orchard floor, and he worried about how the supply and price of fossil fuel affected his profitability. Seemingly unrelated problems, West found one solution to both. He began fermenting the waste fruit into wine and converting some of that wine into ethanol […]
Growers Learn Pheromone-Based Monitoring
Growers are turning to Integrated Pest Management (IPM) tools in order to reduce the use of pesticides on their farm. Pheromone-based monitoring is one such technique used to manipulate the behavior of insect pests. It is a practice that could work well in the Northern Plains; however, according to Dr. Gadi V.P. Reddy of Montana […]
New Video: Building a Local Food Movement
When Congress ended its tobacco support programs in 2000, thousands of tobacco growers in western North Carolina who depended on them were left without a viable way to make a living. “There wasn’t a real future for the farms in our region if we didn’t come up with something new,” says Charlie Jackson, the executive […]
New Video: Bringing Independent Farmers into the Marketplace
Access to profitable retail and wholesale markets is a challenge for small- to mid-scale family farmers. “The days of showing up with your cantaloupes in the back of the pickup are no longer a way to make a living,” says Diana Endicott of Kansas City, Mo. “So you have to be willing to make a […]
New Video: Improving Soil Through Cover Crops
Like many farmers, Jeff Frey sees the soil as his livelihood, so he does what he can to protect and improve this vital resource beneath his feet. "I remember one afternoon we had a thunderstorm that washed mud out into the road and I could actually see some of my freshly planted soybeans in with […]
New Video: How SARE Supports Farmer-Driven Sustainability
There is no universal vision for agricultural sustainability in the United States—every region, every farm may require a different approach to improving livelihoods, protecting the nation’s land and water resources, and strengthening communities. Since its inception in 1988, the SARE program has supported a broad range of innovations in sustainability through its grassroots, farmer-driven grants […]