Researchers in Missouri are using an NCR-SARE grant to increase knowledge about the elderberry market in the region and estimate future trends and growth potential. They hope to help identify the most appropriate strategies that can be adopted by elderberry growers and value-added processors to deal with the industry’s specific competitive forces. This feature in The Washington Post highlights some their work.

To read more about this Research and Education elderberry project, visit the MySARE reporting site here.

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Source: Washington Post

HARTSBURG, Mo. — Missouri farmer...

An NCR-SARE project in Missouri is teaching pasture budgeting techniques designed to match beef cattle nutrient requirements to the forage system while strategically managing input costs, pasture quality, and carrying capacity. As part of the project, four core beef producer groups are being developed in cooperation with state and regional Extension specialists. This news feature highlights the first meeting of the North Missouri Grazing Group at Jonnie Hubach’s farm, located in northeastern Andrew County.

To read more about the related NCR-SARE Research and Education project,...

The story below features the Minnesota Cover Crops Decision Tool by the Midwest Cover Crop Council (MCCC), a group which consists of eight Midwestern states and one Canadian province. The project to develop the Minnesota Cover Crops Decision Tool was funded through a Minnesota NCR-SARE mini-grant in Fall 2011.

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Source: AgWeek

Cover crops are any green crops grown between cash crops. They come in many different varieties, but until recently little information was available to help growers decide which varieties to select and exactly when to plant them.

Common...

This feature covers the research of NCR-SARE grant recipient Frank Forcella, who is experimenting with a physical weed control technique that involves sandblasting abrasive grit on in-row weeds. To read more about Forcella's NCR-SARE Research and Education project, visit the MySARE reporting site here.

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Source: Agrinews

MORRIS, Minn. — Organic farmers want to blast one of their greatest production challenges —weeds. They may be getting that chance thanks to Frank Forcelli's latest research project.

Forcelli, weed scientist at the USDA-ARS...

In this article from the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute's newsletter, NCR-SARE Farmer Rancher grant recipient, Phil Batalden and his daughter Kathleen, talk about their marketing of camelina oil. 

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Source: Agricultural Utilization Research Institute newsletter 

Lamberton, Minn. — After working on agricultural development in West Africa, Kathleen Batalden Smith and her husband Justin Smith came home to rural Minnesota and began some ag development of their own.

Kathleen and her family are growing and bottling organic camelina oil for the health food market....

The following story features recent NCR-SARE Farmer Rancher Grant recipients, Nicola and Daniel Macpherson-Hellmuth and their effort to cultivate black truffles with the help of University of Missouri researcher, Johann Bruhn.

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Source: Columbia Missourian, by Anna Boiko-Weyrauch

The field doesn’t look like much yet. At the flat top of a hill there is a three-fourths acre patch of grass clumps that have been slathered with limestone powder to alter the soil. Deer have left tracks in the soft dirt.

Ozark Forest Mushrooms co-owner Nicola Macpherson gets excited imagining...

The following news piece features Laura Paine, a Grazing and Organic Agriculture Specialist at the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. Paine is currently in the midst of a four-year NCR-SARE project on grass-based dairy products. The project brings farmers, researchers, processors and chefs together to explore the potential of grass-fed dairy products.

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Source: WisBusiness.com (http://www.wisbusiness.com/index.iml?Article=262830)

MADISON – When Laura Paine discusses her job at the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection...

Market Journal's Kurtis Harms reports on the SARE Program. Nebraska SARE State Coordinator, Gary Lesoing, was at the Triumph in Agriculture Show in Omaha, NE and was interviewed by Market Journal. This segment on SARE is on YouTube and appeared on Market Journal on Nebraska Educational Television.

In this feature, NCR-SARE Professional Development Grant Program grant recipient, Sanjun Gu, explains vegetable grafting, an emerging technique but has become popular among small-scale farmers.

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Source: Down the Earth: Report from the Field, Innovative Small Farmers’ Outreach Program (ISFOP): East Central Region. By Dr. Sanjun Gu

Grafting is an old practice with tree fruit. It is the act of joining two plants together. The upper part of the graft, the scion, becomes the top of the plant; the lower portion, the rootstock, becomes the root system or part of the trunk. Vegetable grafting...

The story below features SARE grant recipients turning to alternative energy practices-despite the steep learning curve often involved.

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Source: AgriView, Jane Fyksen, Crops Editor

High energy prices aren't going to go away. Concerned about the impact energy costs will have on the long-term sustainability of their operations, more producers are turning to alternative energy practices-despite the steep learning curve often involved.

While energy-efficiency measures are generally the fastest and cheapest way to reduce energy-related costs, many farmers are now turning...