A series of ten webinars is planned for this winter starting with a December 4^th webinar.

This series of webinars is open to the public but pre-registration is required. If you don’t have access to internet, check under the descriptions below to see if your local University Extension office is hosting it. The topics covered include crop operations, dairy, swine/poultry housing, greenhouses, grain drying, lighting and irrigation. The series will start with a presentation giving an overview of world, US and local energy use and how we might reduce our need from a macro...

The 2012 Sioux Falls Organic Agriculture Conference is scheduled for December 3rd & 4th at the Ramkota Hotel in Sioux Falls, SD. 

Topics that will be addressed are diverse and range from Biological Control and Pasture Management to Vegetable Production.

Speakers include: 

• Joshua Dukart, ND Farmer and Rancher
• Laura Edwards, SDSU Climate Specialist 
• Dale Mutch, Michigan State Agronomist 
• Chris Bruening, UNL Associate Professor

All are welcome to this conference. This is a public event for those currently producing organically, those...

Celebrate the 20th anniversary the largest annual small farm trade show in the United States with dozens of SARE grant recipients plus staff from the SARE program at the National Small Farm Trade Show & Conference(tm). This year, the Conference takes place on Thursday, November 1st through Saturday, November 3rd, 2012, in Columbia, Missouri, at the Central Missouri Event Center (former Boone County Fairgrounds).

Do you want to farm or ranch while protecting the environment, making a profit, and benefiting your community? More than 25 Farmers Forum talks featuring grants recipients from...

Farmers and small-business owners interested in selling their food products can learn ways to make their businesses safe and profitable at workshops to be given across the state.

MarketReady Indiana will be offered at 11 locations and feature sessions on each stage of food marketing, including quality assurance, pricing, insurance, and relationship building.

Target audiences include traditional farmers seeking to diversify their crop and livestock markets, small and beginning farmers, owners of small businesses such as bakeries or dairies, and producers of value added products such as flour, jellies,...

As part of the MO SARE State Program,  Debi Kelly will be hosting a webinar on cover crops on October 24, 9am-noon. Presenters will include Charles Ellis, a Natural Resource Engineer with the Lincoln County University of Missouri Extension Center, and Rich Hoormann, an Agronomy Specialist with Montgomery County University of Missouri Extension Center. 

Rich Hoorman will cover:

• Laddonia Plots: Corn plant growth & development response to cover crops with yield information
• Results of 2012 spring root dig with backhoe by species
• Results of soil penetrometer readings...

Folks with an interest in grassfed beef production are invited to attend a pasture walk and workshop at the Jane and Joe Jewett farm near Palisade, MN on Monday, October 22 from 9:30am-2:30pm.

Jane Jewett has an NCR-SARE Farmer-Rancher grant to document finishing weights and time to finish for grassfed beef steers. Three other farmers in Minnesota are cooperating on this project, and preliminary results will be presented. Betsy Weiland, Minnesota SARE co-coordinator, will present information about the SARE grant programs.

Scott Kittleson from the Aitkin NRCS...

Bill Wilcke, photo courtesy of the University of Minnesota

NCR-SARE is pleased to announce that William F. Wilcke is the first person to receive the “NCR-SARE Hero Recognition.”

Coordinated by the NCR-SARE Alumni Organization, this recognition recognizes the leadership, vision, contributions, and impact that these heroes have made in the field of sustainable agriculture in the North Central...

The Associated Press wrote a July story on the UMCA-sponsored elderberry workshop held this summer in Hartsburg, which was sponsored by the University of Missouri’s Center for Agroforestry through an ongoing grant from NCR-SARE. The following article was widely circulated around the U.S. Check out the Elderberry Financial Decision Support Tool, which was developed as part of this project.

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Source: Journal Gazette

Missouri farmer Terry Durham is among those willing to bet the next hot food crop will be a berry now more commonly found in roadside ditches...

In spring 2012, Stone's Throw Urban Farm in Minnesota received an NCR-SARE Farmer Rancher Grant to explore different ways in which cover-cropping could improve depleted, urban soils while also fitting into the management requirements of a small farm.

At this event, they will be explaining their cover cropping goals, experimental design, and initial ruminations. Then, they hope to enter into a broader discussion regarding soil fertility challenges and potential solutions for urban agriculture and small-scale vegetable production in general.

PLACE: Peace Coffee, 3262 Minnehaha Avenue, Minneapolis...

This article features grant recipient, Joe Gaylord. In 2010, he received a SARE grant to expand prawn and trout into their existing hybrid bluegill operation. Their annual "Prawn Harvest" will take place on September 29, 2012 at 11am.

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Source: The Adrian Journal, Sharon Kiesel

A new business that has been two years in the making will open officially this Saturday, March 12. JEMV, so named for the four owners first initials, is an aquaculture business. Founded by Joe and Eric Gaylord and their wives, Mary and Valerie, JEMV is located on a 100 acre farm southwest...