Showing 61-80 of 97 results
NCR-SARE Heroes: Donn Teske and Fred Madison
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 Donn Teske and Fred Madison have been named the 2020 NCR-SARE Heroes. Donn Teske Donn Teske’s fifth-generation farm was homesteaded […]

Conservation Tillage Systems in the Southeast: Production, Profitability and Stewardship
“What could be more important to a farmer than soil erosion and soil quality? High-quality soil is a business asset,” says Bob Rawlins, a Georgia farmer who has been using no-till farming for 40 years. SARE’s newest book, Conservation Tillage Systems in the Southeast, explores the importance of conservation tillage and provides in-depth management guidance […]
NCR-SARE Announces 2020 Farmer Rancher Grants
NCR-SARE is pleased to announce the projects recommended for funding for the 2020 Farmer Rancher Grant Program. 55 grant projects were selected to receive a total of more than $718,000 through this NCR-SARE grant program, which offers competitive grants for farmers and ranchers who are exploring sustainable agriculture in America’s Midwest. The Farmer Rancher Grant Program is a competitive […]
NCR-SARE Announces 2020 Youth Educator Grants
NCR-SARE is pleased to announce the projects recommended for funding for the Youth Educator competitive grant program. For the 2020 Youth Educator Grant Program, NCR-SARE awarded more than $45,000 to 12 projects. The competitive Youth Educator Grant Program supports educators who seek to provide programming on sustainable agriculture for youth. Those selected to receive funding […]
NCR-SARE Announces 2020 Partnership Grants
NCR-SARE Program is pleased to announce the projects selected for the 2020 Partnership Grant Program. For the 2020 Partnership Grant Program, NCR-SARE awarded more than $582,000 to 15 projects. NCR-SARE’s Partnership Grant Program is intended to foster cooperation between agriculture professionals and small groups of farmers and ranchers to catalyze on-farm research, demonstration, and education activities […]
USDA Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP)
On April 17, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced the highly anticipated plan for how the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) intends to distribute the $23.5 billion Congress provided to aid farmers impacted by the ongoing pandemic. The centerpiece of this USDA plan is the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP). CFAP will consist of two components: $16 billion in direct payments […]

Planning for a Farmer-to-Farmer Butcher Shop
Liz and Nate Brownlee teamed up with specialists at Indiana University to conduct a feasibility study on creating a small-scale butcher shop capable of serving producers who focus on direct sales in their area of Indiana.

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 […]
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 […]

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 […]