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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 […]
Agritourism: Montana Conference Builds Stronger Collaborations
The Montana Agritourism Association (MAA) hosted their successful two-day 2nd annual conference, “Opening the Gate: Unlocking Agritourism Opportunities to Connect, Collaborate, and Innovate” in November with over 160 attendees. The conference met its stated goal of bringing together farmers, ranchers, tourism partners, educators, and community leaders and in creating a space to connect, learn, and […]
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 […]
Range Riders
Most Western SARE research projects use science to develop new knowledge, insights or practices to help farmers and ranchers in their quest to be more successful and sustainable. Some, though, rediscover and refine old knowledge – like the effectiveness of range riding to protect livestock from predators like wolves, mountain lions and bears. “It’s fascinating […]
Growing Green in the Nevada Desert
When outsiders think of Nevada, they picture the garish lights of Las Vegas or perhaps red desert sands. But Nevada has a green side, too.
Sustainable Agriculture Action Plans Funded
Western SARE funded two Sustainable Agriculture Action Plan (SAAP) grants for a total of $50,000. The funding is intended for projects leading a consultative process and creating a Sustainable Agriculture Action Plan that documents the research, regulatory, infrastructure, and educational needs and priorities required to increase sustainable agriculture practices in a specific industry/commodity or geographical […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
How to Get Your Message Out
This Online Communication Roadmap for Rangeland Professionals by the University of Arizona will help improve your skills and knowledge of online communication by outlining key strategies for communicating your rangeland or natural resources work to the right audiences. The authors suggestion you consider this the communication roadmap for when you want people to read a […]
Can Kelp be Alaska’s New Agricultural Frontier?
Alaska is relatively new to the business of farming kelp, a type of seaweed gaining popularity across the globe because it’s healthy for humans and good for the planet, too. Kelp is rich in vitamins, minerals and protein, requires no soil or fertilizers to grow, provides habitat for fish, and balances ocean acidification caused by […]
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. – […]
Building Bridges Across the Pacific
Collaboration, education, and community empowerment hold potential for driving positive change. Accordingly, Regional Food Business Centers in Hawaiian, Pacific Island, and Alaskan communities are harnessing their skills and resources to reach their shared vision of resilient, sustainable, and self-reliant local food systems. Geographic isolation, food transit logistics, large Indigenous populations, underdeveloped infrastructure, extreme climate change […]
Farming and Food Narrative Project
Farmers know farming is a complex endeavor with competing demands and economic pressures. The non-farming public thinks farming is hard labor but otherwise simple. Farmers know that crop-destroying pests take the form of insects, diseases, weeds, nematodes, birds and mammals, and that managing pests requires an array of integrated tactics. The non-farming public thinks pests […]
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 […]
Switching to Winter Crops Might Help Farmers Cope with Warming World
For people who grow food and cultivate the land, climate change isn’t something experienced though charts, graphs and predictions of foreboding futures. For growers, the threat of a warming world is immediate and increasing. “Climate change is playing out on farms like mine every day, every season and in every extreme weather event,” said Caitlin […]
Reducing Weeds by 80% Using Solarization
La Buena Tierra farmer Maria de los Angeles Carrillo (Angeles) is delighted that her interest in researching a non-chemical pest management practice has reduced her weeds by 80%. Coquillo (nutgrass) was the exception and even that stubborn grass has been reduced greatly and grows weaker roots. Lab tests also demonstrated reduced Verticillium wilt in the […]