Showing 1-17 of 17 results
"The Art of Climate Dialogue" Podcast Series
"The Art of Climate Dialogue" podcast series features thirteen conversations with farmers, artists, community-engaged researchers, and community organizers and activists who have used arts and storytelling strategies to discuss climate change and agriculture in Iowa. Through this podcast, interviewees share these strategies so that listeners can implement them in their own communities. "Research shows that […]
Prairie Strips as a Farmland Conservation Practice
Farmers and researchers in Iowa have been planting prairie strips in their crop fields to help reduce surface runoff.
Advancing Grassland Conservation in Nebraska
Nebraska researcher Kyle Martens is working to better understand ranchers’ preferences regarding grassland conservation programs with support from SARE.
Reducing Runoff with Prairie Strips
Dan Stoffel worked with Sand County Foundation to plant prairie strips on his farm in southeast Wisconsin. With support from a SARE grant, Sand County Foundation was able to work with several producers to implement this practice which helps reduce runoff and attract pollinators.
Pioneer Agroforestry Farm Tour Video Series
A new video series on Midwest agroforestry is available from the Savanna Institute and North Central SARE. The six-part Pioneer Agroforestry Farm Tour Video Series features brief, detailed interviews with farmers who are advancing agroforestry in the Midwest.
The American Kestrel: an IPM Friend for Michigan’s Fruit Growers
Cherry producers across the region are all too familiar with starlings, finches, voles, pocket gophers, and other animals that can wreak havoc on a cherry orchard by feeding on ripening fruit and developing roots or shoots. These little pests can be a big problem for Michigan’s cherry growers, who grow 75 percent of all tart cherries and 20 percent of sweet cherries in […]
Minnesota Researchers Spill the Beans on Pulses
When the United Nations announced that 2016 would be the “International Year of Pulses,” Craig Sheaffer wasn’t surprised. An agronomist with a bent toward organics, Sheaffer researches perennial native and introduced legumes, grasses, and woody species at the University of Minnesota (U of MN). He was well aware that pulses (also known as grain legumes), such […]
Non-Profit Brings Conservation Strategies to Women Landowners
The percentage of women who are sole landowners is rising, and the 2012 Census of Agriculture revealed that women farmers now control seven percent of U.S. farmland and account for three percent of sales. Bridget Holcomb, Executive Director of the Women, Food & Agriculture Network (WFAN) has been particularly concerned with women landowners, whose numbers […]
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 […]
Handbook for Agroforestry Planning and Design
The steps provided in the Handbook for Agroforestry Planning and Design will allow you to identify what agroforestry products can grow on your land, which of these products you can sell profitably, and how to develop basic business and marketing strategies.
Training Manual for Applied Agroforestry Practices
The Training Manual for Applied Agroforestry Practices helps to explain agroforestry practices and their applications. It is designed for natural resources professionals and landowners, and includes worksheets and exercises for use as an educational tool. Additionally, the manual is designed to assist in the decision process so that, when established or managed, the agroforestry practice is most effective at achieving the desired objectives.
Environmental Stewardship and Conservation
Environmental stewardship and conservation are necessary in sustaining the future of any farm or agricultural business. Whether it be conservation training for agronomy professionals or recultivation of native grasses into rotational grazing, SARE has supported recent advances by producers, researchers, and professionals to make environmental stewardship and conservation a high priority in the agriculture industry.
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.
Maintenance of Natural Sustainable Riparian Communities Fact Sheets Series
A graduate student from North Dakota State University created these five extension fact sheets after monitoring and reporting on the riparian ecosystem associated with the Middle Sheyenne River, a perennial stream in eastern North Dakota.
Woodchip Bioreactors for Nitrate in Agricultural Drainage
Woodchip bioreactors, installed at the edge of agricultural fields, can remove 15 to 60 percent of the nitrate in tile-drained water annually. This innovative approach for protecting the water quality in Midwest streams and rivers is described in a new fact sheet available from Iowa State University.
Patch Burning for Cattle and Prairie: Doing Well by Doing Good
Kansas rancher Jane Koger, who raises 125 head annually in a cow/calf herd, is trying an ambitious new strategy to protect the rare prairie ecosystem on her ranch. The resulting "patch burning" system she developed with conservation organizations, along with help from a SARE grant and her Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) field office, seems […]