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Maquinaria y Herramientas Para la Producción De Cultivos Intensivos a Pequeña Escala

Resumen Esta publicación se centra en equipos y herramientas para la producción intensiva de cultivos en una granja comercial a pequeña escala. Detalla equipos y herramientas manuales para la preparación del suelo, la siembra, el manejo de malezas y la cosecha. El uso de equipos y herramientas apropiados, tanto en términos de tamaño como de […]

Training for the Future of Arizona’s Small-Scale Agriculture

When supply chains collapsed and grocery shelves sat empty in the first years of the COVID pandemic, many people got interested in growing their own food. Most of those didn’t have access to dozens or hundreds of acres of land. What land they could find were small urban plots, or suburban backyards, or maybe a […]

Landmapper

Landmapper is an open-source app that was created by Ecotrust to provide basic property summaries and maps involved with the preparation of forest stewardship plans. Landmapper How-To Video This short video walks potential users of Landmapper through the process of selecting a parcel within Oregon or Washington and creating a series of maps to help […]

Business Tools for Ag Video Series

This seven-part video series was produced by Utah's Master Stockman Consulting to teach new and beginning producers about valuable tools for making economically sustainable decisions. This includes discussion of basic economic principles and tools, as well as how to conduct on-farm research and apply existing research to your operation. Basic Farm and Ranch Economics This […]

Virtual Fence User Guide

The virtual fence webpage on Rangelands Gateway allows potential users to access resources, tools, workshop materials, webinar information, and multimedia resources. Virtual fencing (VF) has the potential to change grazing systems by allowing unprecedented impact over livestock distribution. The systems use invisible barriers, established by GPS coordinates, to influence livestock movement with a combination of […]

Creating Fungal Compost

A former Chicago science teacher turned Colorado farmer, Rick Bieterman isn’t afraid of a challenge. Start with the location of his Watershed Ranch near Buena Vista in central Colorado. “Soil quality out here is pretty terrible,” he said. “Organics are way low. We’re right next to the Arkansas River, so most of our fields are […]

Light it Up! Using UV Light to Kill Powdery Mildew in Grapes

Instead of relying solely on fungicides to control powdery mildew on winegrapes, growers may one day – and one day reasonably soon – have an effective non-chemical option: light. Specifically, light in the form of spore-killing ultraviolet UV-C radiation, delivered directly to the plant by a self-driving tractor moving through vineyard rows autonomously at night. […]

Measuring Biochar’s Benefits for Healthy Orchard Soils

As the California agricultural community seeks new tools and practices critical for adapting to a changing climate, the American Farmland Trust partnered with a Madera County almond grower, conservation districts, and the University of California at Merced to conduct a field demonstration project and experiment on the application of biochar and its effects on soil […]

Breaking the Barriers to IPM Adoption in Wenatchee Pears

For all the promise, potential and profound benefits integrated pest management can bring, there’s also this harsh reality: IPM only works if people practice it. In some pear-growing regions in the Pacific Northwest, IPM is a widely accepted, effective and economical way to manage pear psylla and codling moth, the crop’s key insect pests. But […]

A New Tool for Managing Invasive Grasses in Montana

Invasive annual grasses, such as cheatgrass and ventenata, are reducing the abundance of native grasses that livestock producers depend on in the semi-arid rangelands of southwestern Montana.  At the current low-to-moderate levels of invasion, it’s crucial to begin targeted management before invasive populations become too advanced. To guide efforts to slow or halt annual grass […]

Impacts of Compost Application on the Drought Resiliency of Rangeland

Severe droughts, expected to increase due to climate change, pose threats to California’s rangelands. Ranchers and rangeland managers are facing decreased livestock forage production, reduced biodiversity, and soil degradation. A previously funded Western SARE project (grant number OW19-349) found that compost amendments provide benefits to soils and forage productivity, including greater resilience to drought. However, […]

Propagating Tea Plants for the West

Tea is one of the most popular drinks in the world, second only to water in consumption. In America, you can find it in more than 80 percent of households. Finding it growing in U.S. soil is another story. Tea is produced on less than 100 acres in America, mostly in Hawaii and the South. […]

Hawaii Research Examines Ecological Pest Management and Values-Driven Farming

Agricultural researchers often measure success in terms of higher yields or higher profits, but a new project in Hawaii is looking at a third dimension of success: Growers’ personal values. “A lot of farmers make the transition to organic partially for commercial reasons, but it’s also a values-driven decision,” said Ben Wiseman, a third-year PhD […]

Studying the Ecology of Fear to Protect Chile in Colorado

Tiny aphids are causing outsized losses for chile pepper growers in Colorado, even though the insects don’t feed on that particular crop and don’t linger in it. Instead, aphids move through chile fields, especially after nearby alfalfa fields are cut. That wasn’t a problem until 2019 when alfalfa mosaic virus appeared in southern Colorado. Aphids […]

Targeted Grazing

Wildfires throughout the West are growing more severe. Fire season starts earlier, lasts longer and claims more lives and property along the way. Grazing is one of the most effective, cost-efficient tools available to lessen fire spread and severity. And now, thanks to a recent Western SARE-supported project, grazing has become even more useful to […]

Boosting Beneficial Insects in Oregon’s Cherry Orchards

Eighty percent of Oregon’s cherries are produced in the Mid-Columbia Basin. Typically, when new orchards are planted, farmers leave the ground under the trees bare or plant grass. Farmers also regularly apply chemicals to control insect pests such as spotted wing drosophila, thrips, and leafhoppers, among others. However, planting mixed cover crops that include flowering […]

Training Ag Leaders in the Bering Strait

A large nonprofit with a long history in Alaska, the Rural Alaska Community Action Program (CAP) is well-known for its work addressing housing, workforce development, and health challenges. When COVID hit, the organization added food security work to their priorities. With the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding, they initiated ten food […]

Graduate Student Research in the West

The Western SARE Graduate Student program invests in graduate students to conduct innovative research and outreach for advancing sustainable agriculture knowledge and practices in the West. This grant program provides graduate students the opportunity to conduct research and outreach alongside producers and educators to prepare students to understand the challenges and nuances of agricultural production. […]