Crop Production

Domes: Bridging Agriculture in Wyoming & the Pacific

At first glance, agriculture in Wyoming and agriculture on Hawaii or Guam don’t have much in common. But growers in both the tropical Pacific and the northern prairie can benefit from enclosed production spaces – structures like hoop houses, high tunnels or geodesic domes – which is why Wyoming-developed domes will soon be popping up […]

Can Less Fertilizer Create Higher Sugar Yields? Testing a Win-Win Hypothesis

For a sugarbeet grower, when someone tells you that you can reduce your nitrogen fertilizer inputs and costs by 20 percent and increase your crop quality and sugar yield, there’s only one logical response. Prove it. That’s just what the Western Sugar Cooperative set out to do with a Western SARE Professional + Producer grant […]

Equipment and Tools for Small-Scale Intensive Crop Production Guide and Videos

This publication focuses on equipment and tools for intensive crop production on a small-scale commercial farm. It details equipment and hand tools for soil preparation, planting, weed management, and harvesting. The use of appropriate equipment and tools, both in terms of size and practicality, can increase production efficiency and profits while minimizing disturbance to soil […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Can Introducing Mason Bees Boost Berry Pollination?

When it comes to berry pollination throughout the West, honeybees are the biggest show in town. That can be a problem for pollination diversity and for farmers because honeybees aren’t always the best option for some crops. “That’s especially true with blueberries,” said Miranda Jones, a graduate student in biology at Utah State University. “Blueberries […]

Biofertilizers in High Elevation Meadows

Livestock producers in the high elevation areas of Wyoming and Colorado depend on hay meadows for their forage production.  Because of limited precipitation and low fertility, producers have routinely practiced flood irrigation in these meadows and apply high rates of nitrogen fertilizer to guarantee sufficient production. Yet, these integral meadows are underperforming, expensive to manage, […]

From Vertical Farms to Outer Space

Research projects can at times lead to unanticipated results. While working to identify an alternative and sustainable source of carbon dioxide (CO2) generation for enriching plant chambers within the growing vertical farming industry as a graduate student at the University of Arizona, Justin Chung discovered the potential benefits for sustaining astronauts in long duration missions. […]

Exploring Montana Agriculture

The SARE Fellows trip to Montana was amazing. I enjoyed seeing the collaborative efforts among the various farms and organizations to share their knowledge, expertise, and resources to help each other thrive while meeting the needs of the community. This experience has shown me how people working together is what truly makes programs sustainable. – […]

Rediscovering Dry Farming

Climate change poses a serious challenge to Western farmers. How do you grow crops profitably when rainfall and drought are becoming so unpredictable and extreme? For many producers, dry farming may offer a way forward. Instead of relying on surface irrigation throughout the summer, dry farmers are finding ways to capture water from winter rains […]

San Luis Valley Sustainable Ag Action Plan

This plan is area focused: Southern Colorado’s San Luis Valley, the headwater region of the RioGrande. Irrigation in this high, arid valley is from a combination of surface water from the Rio Grandeand its tributaries, and pumping from confined and unconfined aquifers. Because these waterresources are overdrafted and connected, managing for sustainability of agriculture involves […]

Using Less Water by "Stacking" Conservation Practices

There’s a reason so many of the climate-related projects funded by Western SARE focus on water. “In Utah and much of the West, water scarcity is the number one issue when it comes to the future of agriculture,” explained Matt Yost, an Agroclimate Extension Specialist at Utah State University. “The pressure on water systems is […]

Researchers Work to Develop, Test Dry-Farm-Adapted Corn Varieties

As farmers and agricultural researchers work to adapt to changing climatic conditions, some are looking to future innovations, some are exploring past agricultural practices, and some are doing both. In Western Oregon, a collaborative effort to establish and expand dry farming – growing crops without irrigation – is decidedly in the “doing both” camp. “There […]