In 2023, the SARE National Reporting, Coordination, and Communications Office (NRCCO) contracted with Insight for Action to conduct a post-project evaluation of four of SARE's regional grant programs. The purpose of the evaluation was to characterize key impacts made by SARE’s grantmaking from 2016 through 2023. The evaluation employed the Success Case Method (SCM) to identify program impacts grounded in a theory- and practice-informed impact model.
For the post-project evaluation, the SCM entailed: 1) Developing an initial impact model based on a scan of web-based resources and SARE background materials, 17 Subject Matter Expert (SME) interviews, and review of a balanced sample of 120 grantee final reports, 2) a self-report survey to identify potential success cases, and 3) in-depth interviews to explore how SARE-funded activities contributed to longer-term achievements and impacts.
Included here are the case studies developed for project in the North Central region.
Cover Crop Management Options to Improve Weed Control, Crop Yield and Soil Health – Kansas
Longest-running experiment in the Mid-Western U.S. demonstrates the economic and soil-health benefits of cover crops as cattle forage. Whether you graze cover crops with livestock or you hay it, you get an economic benefit even if it impacts your next crop yield.” —Dr. Augustine Obour, Research and Education Grantee Crop-Livestock Integrated Systems are Economically Viable […]
Ancestral Mexica Farming: A Comparative Yield Analysis from the 1500s – Kansas
Mexica farming methods for ancestral corn reclaim indigenous knowledge, nurture belonging and community for Latino/a and diaspora communities, and contribute to farmers’ higher yield and reduced inputs. Growing lesser-known Mexica food products such as maize, pipiche, papalotl, jicama, and mexican mint marigold has created a deeper sense of community between myself and local Latino/a communities […]
Formalizing Partnerships to Scale-Up Value-added Local Food in Rural Ohio
The year before we applied for the first SARE grant, a farmer approached us with a whole bunch of hot peppers he didn’t know what to do with. As a licensed cannery, we had a sauce recipe to process these peppers that was approved already. That got us thinking about the amount of waste that […]
Building Sustainable Relationships Around the Use of Grazing Cover Crops on Dairy and Livestock – Wisconsin
Peer and community catalysts lead farmers to adopt sustainable agriculture practices and innovation; farmer-led, economically viable conservation efforts work. As an agency employee over the past 20 years, I have come to realize that science matters in promoting sustainable agriculture, but it is just one small piece of the process. What has a larger, more […]