Providing Grants and Information to Improve Profitability, Stewardship and Quality of Life

1
Providing Grants and Information to Improve
Profitability, Stewardship and Quality of Life
2
(No Transcript)
3
Extending SARE Research
4
An integrated system of plant and animal
production practices having a site-specific
application that will, over the long term
5
Sustainable Agriculture
? Integrates natural biological cycles
? Optimizes the management and use of on-farm
resources
? Enhances environmental quality
? Provides an adequate and dependable farm
income
? Promotes opportunities in family farming
and farm communities
6
Elements of Sustainability
3
2
7
4
9
8
5
1
6
7
(No Transcript)
8
What makes SARE different?
Whole systems perspective
Participatory approach
Decentralized structure
9
Whole Systems Perspective
10
SARE Regions
11
(No Transcript)
12
SARE Regional Administrative Councils
ARS
CSREES
State CE
State AES
NRCS
State Departments engaged in S.A.
13
SARE Grant Opportunities

• Research and Education
• Farmer Rancher
• Professional Development
• Graduate Student
• On-Farm Research
• Sustainable Community Innovation

14
SARE Grant Opportunities

• Research and Education
• Involve scientists, producers, and others in an
  interdisciplinary approach.
• 30,000 to 350,000

15
SARE Grant Opportunities

• Farmer Rancher
• Enable producers to conduct on-site experiments
  or test marketing strategies and share the
  results with other producers.
• 500 to 18,000

16
SARE Grant Opportunities

• Professional Development
• Spread knowledge about sustainable concepts and
  practices among Cooperative Extension and other
  agriculture professionals.
• 4,000 to 170,000

17
SARE Grant Opportunities

• Graduate Student
• The objective of the Graduate Student Awards is
  to help support the costs of a thesis or
  dissertation project that addresses sustainable
  agriculture issues.
• Maximum of 10,000

18
SARE Grant Opportunities

• On-Farm Research
• For agricultural professionals who work directly
  with farmers specifically Cooperative
  Extension, NRCS, NGOs, and others operating in
  the farm community who are interested in
  developing on-farm demonstration, research, or
  marketing projects related to sustainable
  agriculture.
• Maximum of 10,000

19
SARE Grant Opportunities

• Sustainable Community Innovation
• Southern SARE and the Southern Rural Development
  Center now offer a pilot grants program that will
  invest in projects that strengthen both
  agriculture and Southern communities through
  explicit linkages between sustainable agriculture
  and community development, and improve
  understanding of the mutual benefits of such
  linkages.
• Maximum of 10,000

20
SARE Research Education Grant

• Sustainable Year-Round Forage System for Goat
  Production in the Southern USA
• Sandra Solaiman, Tuskegee University, Alabama
• Funded by Southern Region (178,120)
• The Southeasts warm, humid climate is ideal for
  raising the forages and browses on which goats
  thrive. To identify the top performers, Sandra
  Solaiman tested forages for weight gain and
  palatability.

Producers are thirsty for information. We can
only compete with other production systems like
beef and poultry if were unique and efficient.
Sandra Solaiman
21
SARE Farmer/Rancher Grant

• Imperial Stock Ranch Heritage Lamb/Fiber
  Marketing
• Jeanne Carver, co-owner, Imperial Stock Ranch,
  Maupin, Ore.
• Funded by the Western Region (7,000)
• With more than a century of sheep ranching
  tradition on her 30,000-acre ranch, Jeanne Carver
  was determined to continue raising sheep despite
  declining lamb and wool markets. After
  investigating markets, she launched new ventures,
  including selling lamb to high-end restaurants,
  wool for yarn-and-pattern kits and ready-to-wear
  woolen and lambskin fashions.

Our customers love the quality of our product,
the flavor profile of the meat, the feel of the
wool, and the message of the land and sense of
place. Jeanne Carver
22
SARE Research Education Grant

• Implementing a Bio-Intensive Strategy for
  Caterpillar Control in Sweet Corn
• Ruth Hazzard, University of Massachusetts
• Funded by Northeast Region (68,265)
• Hazzard and her research team developed new,
  effective biological controls to fight damaging
  earworms corn oil and Bacillus thuringiensis
  (Bt). Hazzards technique calls for applying Bt
  and corn oil to the top of each ear during the
  formative stage, causing earworms that crawl into
  the ear to suffocate.

The idea came out of a SARE project from the
early 1990s, when a farmer said he used to use
mineral oil. Weve taken the concept and brought
in new materials. Ruth Hazzard
23
SARE Professional Development Grant

• Local Food to Local People Enlarging a Regional
  Food System Through Nutrition Education
• Nancy O'Connor, Community Mercantile Education
  Foundation Inc, Lawrence, Kan.
• Funded by the North Central Region (60,145)
• With healthful eating and farmer livelihoods in
  mind, nutritionist Nancy OConnor forged
  partnerships with Extension and the nonprofit
  Kansas Rural Center to run cooking demonstrations
  that deliver an eat local credo to expand the
  market for Kansas foods.

If I believe in it passionately, and I feed them
and give them tools and information, they will
go out and be different. Nancy OConnor
24
Sustainable Agriculture Network
Communications Outreach Arm of the SARE Program

• Website (www.sare.org)
• Bulletins (free in quantity for educators)
• Books
• sanet-mg (sustainable ag listserv)

25
Sustainable Agriculture Network

• SAN is the communications and outreach arm of the
  Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education
  (SARE) program.

26
Sustainable Agriculture Network

• Dedicated to the exchange of scientific and
  practical information on sustainable agriculture
  systems using a variety of printed and electronic
  communications tools.

27
Resources from SAN
28
Building a Sustainable Business
29
Building Soils for Better Crops 2nd Edition
30
How to Direct Market Your Beef
31
How to Manage the Blue Orchard Bee As an Orchard
Pollinator
32
Manage Insects on Your Farm A Guide to
Ecological Strategies
33
Managing Cover Crops Profitably 2nd Edition
34
The New American Farmer Profiles of Agricultural
Innovation
35
The New Farmers MarketFarm-Fresh Ideas for
Producers, Managers and Communities
36
Steel in the FieldA Farmer's Guide to Weed
Management Tools
37
SAN Online Informational Bulletins

• Diversifying Cropping Systems
• Exploring Sustainability in Agriculture
• How to Conduct Research on Your Farm or Ranch
• Marketing Strategies for Farmers and Ranchers
• Meeting the Diverse Needs of Limited-Resource
  Producers An Educator's Guide
• Profitable Pork Strategies for Hog Producers
• Profitable Poultry Raising Birds on Pasture
• SARE Highlights (2003-2005)
• Transitioning to Organic Production
• A Whole-Farm Approach to Managing Pests
• Smart Water Use on Your Farm or Ranch

38
Acknowledgements

• Special thanks to Mandy Rodrigues (Program
  Specialist) and Valerie Berton (Communications
  Specialist) of the National SARE Office for their
  assistance with this presentation.

39

• Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Department of Natural Resources and Environmental
  Sciences
• Agroecology Sustainable Agriculture Program
• SARE Coordinator
• P.O. Box 410
• Greenview, Illinois 62642-0410
• 217/968-5512
• Email cvnghgrn_at_uiuc.edu
• http//www.aces.uiuc.edu/asap