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New “Cover Crops and Soil Health” Video from SARE
The newest episode of SARE’s "What is Sustainable Agriculture" animation series illustrates how producers can use cover crops to improve productivity and sustainability. In just a few short minutes, “Cover Crops and Soil Health” outlines how cover crops can build soil structure, protect water quality, suppress pests and improve a farm's bottom line. Combining cover […]

Sustainable Agriculture Videos
SARE's animated video series highlights some common practices farmers and ranchers across the country use to improve profitability, quality of life, and environmental stewardship.

Share Your NCR-SARE Hero
When you nominate someone as an NCR-SARE Hero, you recognize someone who made significant contributions to sustainable agriculture in the North Central region.

Updated Guide to USDA Programs Opens Door to Millions of Dollars of Available Funding
Building Sustainable Farms, Ranches and Communities covers 62 government programs and has been updated to include program updates from the 2018 Farm Bill. Each program listing provides a description of the program’s available resources, information on how to apply, and in some cases, examples of how the funding has been used.

New SARE Bulletin Addresses Ecological Approach to Managing Pests
A flock of sheep is vital to the success of one particular vineyard in Winters, California. While many operations struggle to manage weeds, this vineyard used a SARE-funded grant to test grazing sheep as a pest management practice, and they are seeing many whole-farm benefits. The sheep were trained to avoid the grape crop’s leaves […]

Virtual Field Day Tips and Tricks
NCR-SARE has two recorded webinars for SARE grantees about hosting virtual field days.

National Farmer Survey Documents a Wide Range of Cover Crop Benefits as Acreage Continues to Expand
Despite the crippling rainfall that significantly delayed planting across much of the country in 2019, more than 90% of farmers participating in a national cover crop survey reported that cover crops allowed them to plant earlier or at the same time as non-cover-cropped fields. Among those who had "planted green," seeding cash crops into growing […]

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 […]

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 […]
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 […]
SARE Fellows Tour Sustainability in North Carolina
SARE Fellows Tour Sustainability in North Carolina RALEIGH, North Carolina – Organic sweet potatoes are in high demand in North Carolina, but growers face two major hurdles: weeds and wireworms. North Carolina State University researchers think cover crops might be a solution, and that would make third generation farmer Kelvin Bass a happy man. “I’m tremendously […]

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: NCR-SARE Hero
Read more about Barbara Norman.

Jim Stordahl: NCR-SARE Hero (Presented Posthumously)
Read more about Jim Stordahl.
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 […]