Crop Production

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A head of broccoli wearing a pair of blue headphones with the text ATTRA Sustainable Agriculture.

Growing New Markets for Specialty Crops

This episode of Voices from the Field is part of a series co-produced by ATTRA and SARE that explores the different ways farmers are working to create new local markets for specialty and niche crops. Each partner episode will address a different production system or crop–from endives to small-grain value chains–and will feature farmers sharing […]

National Cover Crop Survey Report cover page

New Cover Crop Survey Data Challenges Assumptions on Role of Incentive Payments 

Adapted from the Conservation Technology Information Center: A new national survey report has found that the vast majority of farmers who use cover crops don't need incentive payments to continue with the practice because of how much they appreciate its value to their land and business. According to the National Cover Crop Survey, incentives play a key […]

Tarp placed in a field in the winter-time

Tarping in the Northeast: A Guide for Small Farms

Reusable tarps, including black plastic (silage tarps), clear plastic and landscape fabric, are multi-functional, accessible tools that are increasingly popular on small farms. The use of opaque materials that block light is frequently called “occultation,” while the use of clear tarps is called “solarization.” The use of the word "tarping” is a general term to […]

SARE logo with yellow sun rising over green agricultural fields.

The Northeast Organic Grower Harvest Manual

A manual created by Roxbury Farm Harvest to help commercial, organic vegetable farmers with parameters on pricing, harvest indicators, harvest and postharvest handling procedures, and storage conditions. Each vegetable has a detailed explanation of the various market values, expected yield numbers, standards and the tools needed. Harvest and preparation procedures are laid out for each […]

Guide to Honey Bee Queen Banking Cover Page

Guide to Honey Bee Queen Banking

This guide will walk you through the step-by-step process of establishing and maintaining a queen bank. The guide starts with the basics and walks the reader through each step to create a successful honey bank that includes a queen bee. Because queen bees are so critical in maintaining a bank, beekeepers center their focus on […]

Beyond Fresh Farmers Guide to Food Processing with different featured images of food and processing under the title

Beyond Fresh: a Food Processing Guide for Texas Farmers

A decision-making guide to planning, creating and marketing value-added food products made from sustainably-grown fruits and vegetables, written from a "farmer-first" perspective. As farmers face competition from meal-in-a-box companies, this guide aims to help farmers prosper in their own food distribution. This Food Processing Guide for Texas Farmers begins with decision-making and walks step by […]

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Farmer and SARE Grantee Featured by United Nations for Her Millet Production

Minnesota farmer Naima Dhore is starting to grow millet–a resilient cereal grain grown widely in semi-arid regions of the world–because she has an eager market in the large East African communities of the Minneapolis area. It’s part of a broader pattern for Dhore, who migrated to the United States from Somalia as a child and […]

What is Sustainable Agriculture report cover

New SARE Bulletin: What is Sustainable Agriculture?

SARE’s newly revised What is Sustainable Agriculture? publication provides a primer to practices that can help farmers and ranchers improve the sustainability of any complex, integrated production and marketing system. 

New SARE Video: Ecological Weed Management at Terra Preta Farm

Understanding the biology of weeds is key to managing these troublesome pests using ecological principles. Cultural practices such as crop rotations and cover crops paired with smart cultivation have helped many farmers successfully manage weeds while reducing or eliminating herbicide use. In three new videos from SARE, Shakera and Juan Raygoza share their experience controlling […]

What is Sustainable Agriculture report cover

What is Sustainable Agriculture?

This award-winning report provides a sampler of best practices in sustainable agriculture—from marketing and community vitality to cover crops and grazing—as well as eight profiles of producers, educators and researchers who have successfully implemented them.

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America's Heartland "Leaders in Sustainable Agriculture" Now Available on YouTube

SARE recently partnered with PBS KVIE to produce an episode of RFD-TV's America's Heartland featuring four farmers describing their commitment to sustainability, how they plan to overcome modern farming challenges, and how SARE has impacted their farming and ranching practices.  The full 24-minute episode titled Leaders in Sustainable Agriculture is now available at https://www.sare.org/resources/leaders-in-sustainable-agriculture/. Watch: Videos featuring each […]

America's Heartland logo over glowing corn field

Leaders in Sustainable Agriculture Featured on America's Heartland

SARE partnered with PBS KVIE to produce an episode of RFD-TV's America's Heartland that features four farmers describing their commitment to sustainability, how they plan to meet farming challenges of today and tomorrow, and how SARE has impacted their farming and ranching practices.  The full 24-minute video is available, as is each segment featuring the […]

New SARE Video: Managing Weeds in an Organic Almond Orchard

Many organic and conventional farmers are seeking ways to eliminate or reduce their use of synthetic herbicides. Understanding weeds is the first step towards managing them efficiently and ecologically. Now, two new videos in SARE’s Manage Weeds on Your Farm series explore organic almond grove weed control on Burroughs Family Farm’s 1,200-acre orchard in Denair, […]

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Farmers: Share Your Thoughts on Cover Crops in the National Cover Crop Survey!

Farmers are invited to share their thoughts on cover crops in an online survey at bit.ly/CoverCrop23. Why do you plant cover crops...or why don't you? What do you want to know? Your insight will help guide research, communications, seed development, and more. This National Cover Crop Survey is the seventh since 2012 conducted by the USDA-NIFA […]

transitioning to organic production guide

New SARE Bulletin: Transitioning to Organic Production

Since the 1990 Organic Foods Production Act passed, the market for organic products has steadily risen. In 2020, organic sales skyrocketed to an all-time high, motivating many farmers to consider transitioning their farms to organic production. While organic production can help farmers gain access to new markets, improve soil and increase profits, the transition process […]

transitioning to organic production guide

Transitioning to Organic Production

Transitioning to Organic Production lays out many promising conversion strategies, covering typical organic farming production practices, innovative marketing ideas and federal standards for certified organic crop production.

Cover of Scaling Up print publication, featuring an image of a man and a woman and another image of a woman walking through a field of radishes.

Scaling Up Your Vegetable Farm for Wholesale Markets

For direct market farmers, expanding your operation to capture local and regional wholesale markets can represent an opportunity. But such a shift brings with it many changes to how you run your farm because the expectations that wholesale buyers have is much different than your direct market customers. Scaling Up Your Vegetable Farm for Wholesale […]