The educational materials listed on this page are about Integrated Crop and Livestock Systems.
Crops and livestock were traditionally integrated in most farming systems. Integrated crop and livestock farming can improve nutrient cycling. Integrated management, or integrated farming, can also reduce off-farm impacts and improve water management. Integrated crop livestock systems also interrupt pest cycles on farms. Reduced economic risk through diversification on integrated crop-livestock systems is an added benefit to the integrated production system. Resources on integrated farm systems can be recycled more efficiently. Integrated crop and livestock operations may also benefit from increased efficiency in yields. The advantages to integrated agriculture are numerous for both the land and the farmer. Key practices include crop rotation, nutrient management, nutrient cycling, forage management, multispecies grazing, pasture fertility, physical control, stocking rate.
SARE’s Crop Rotation on Organic Farms: A Planning Manual can help farmers identify strategies that will help improve soil quality and health, and manage pests, diseases and weeds. A Whole-Farm Approach to Managing Pests is a helpful bulletin that serves as a guide in designing a farm-wide approach to controlling pests. Visiting The Small Ruminant Toolbox will aid producers looking to diversify their operation by incorporating small livestock enterprises, which provide added benefits to crop rotation and pest and weed control.
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Integrating Small Goat Herd Production with Fruits and Vegetable Production
Most small family farms produce and market more than a single crop from their farm. Growing multiple crops promotes benefits coming from both biologic and economic diversification. This report resulted from a project in Hawaii with the purpose to develop a diversified production system by integrating the farm’s goat production enterprise into a crop production […]
Fresh Growth Podcast
Fresh Growth: Approaches to a More Sustainable Future from Western Ag Practitioners introduces you to farmers and ranchers from around the western United States who are finding innovative sustainable practices that enrich the natural resources we all care about. These successful multi-generational operations experiment with new ideas and are making it pay. Listen in as […]
Farmer and Rancher Research in the West
Making changes on the farm or ranch involves taking risks. One or two years spent experimenting can lead to a financial hit too difficult to recover from. That’s where Western SARE’s Farmer/Rancher and Professional + Producer grants help out. Grantees, like the ones highlighted in this report, come up with the possible solution to a problem they face on their farm or ranch, propose a way to research the idea, and then Western SARE provides the critical support needed to experiment.The projects explore sustainable solutions to problems through on-farm research, demonstration, and education. It is expected that the results are shared with other producers. The highlights you’ll read here are just a fraction of the creative projects attempting to solve real-world problems the grants programs have funded.
Oilseed Opportunities
Farmers and ranchers in the West are growing some new crops and improving their diversity. Many of these changes are being brought about by rising energy and crop prices and the need to become more self-sufficient. Oilseeds such as canola, sunflower and safflower are part of this change and are being grown successfully as agriculture seeks a local and low cost source of fuel and livestock feed. This bulletin is intended as a guide to producers who are considering growing oilseeds.