Showing 21-28 of 28 results
Adapting Cover Crops to Northern Climate Conventional Cropping Systems
Northeast Minnesota is home to a large beef cow-calf sector, several dairy farms, and an increasing amount of cash grain farming. In each of these types of operations, annual cultivation of corn, soybeans, oats, and barley is common. Annual cultivation of these crops can lead to high rates of nutrient leaching and soil erosion, decreased […]
Iowa Farmer Mechanizes Planting and Maintenance Tasks in Vegetables with Companion Plants
The Genuine Faux Farm, operated by Rob and Tammy Faux since 2004, is a small family operation that grows a wide variety of vegetables that are sold and distributed to about 120 community supported agriculture (CSA) customers. Produce also is sold via farmers’ markets and direct sales to a daycare, retirement center, and grocery store. […]
Michigan State Graduate Student Explores the Benefits of Adding Cover Crops to Vegetable Production
Cover crops can help slow erosion, improve soil, smother weeds, enhance nutrient and moisture availability, help control many pests, and bring a host of other benefits to farms across the country. Cereal-legume cover crop mixtures are of particular interest to growers because they can effectively suppress weeds, control erosion, and scavenge leachable nitrate while also […]
Producers and Researchers Collaborate to Improve Soil Health in North Dakota
Soil—and whole farms—have been renewed through soil-improving practices like cover crops and no till. In the semiarid plains of western North Dakota, a team of producers and researchers are working to boost soil health for improved yield stability, farm income, and natural resource health of farms. The Southwest North Dakota Soil Health Project is a […]
Crop Rotation
Crop rotation is the ancient practice of growing a wide variety of crops in a sequential system throughout a field in order to avoid a buildup of disease and pests. Strategic crop rotations can help producers promote good soil health by alternating crops with different nutrient needs and benefit overall soil structure by breaking up subsoil by alternating deep and shallow rooting plants. NCR-SARE supports research and education projects that study the applications of crop rotation-including improving soil quality and health, and managing pests, diseases, and weeds.
Women Caring for the Land: Improving Conservation Outreach to Female Non-Operator Farmland Owners Curriculum Manual
With the help of an NCR-SARE Research and Education Grant and funding from other sources, WFAN developed an award winning curriculum called Women Caring for the LandSM (WCL), which is designed to serve female non-operator landowners who are interested in learning more about conservation and other land management topics. The materials are also appropriate to teach youth about sustainable agriculture through hands-on conservation activity lesson plans.
Dakota Farmer's Success Catches On
Dan Forgey has always had an abiding respect for the land that he has farmed for more than 40 years, which is why, as manager of the 8,500-acre Cronin Farms in Gettysburg, S.D., he strives to build soil health—and yields—sustainably. First, he shifted the farm to 100 percent no-till in 1993, around the time that […]
Integrated Weed Management - One Year's Seeding
Weed biology and ecology can help every farmer become a better weed manager. This guide is the result of a series of winter meetings attended by Michigan farmers, MSU Extension agents and research scientists. It brings together field-tested experience from successful growers and Extension agents and insights distilled from more than 50 years of weed science research.