Current CFPs/RFPs

2010 Farmer Rancher Grant Call for Proposals (Word format)
The deadline for the 2010 Farmer Rancher Call for Proposals is Thursday, December 2, 2010.

2010 Youth & Youth Educator Sustainable Agriculture Grant Call for Proposals (Word)
The deadline for Youth and Youth Educator Grant proposals is Friday, January 14, 2011.

WHAT IS SARE? 

Funded by the USDA, the national Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program supports and promotes sustainable farming and ranching. We offer competitive grants and educational opportunities for producers, scientists, educators, institutions, organizations and others exploring sustainable agriculture. Abstracts from national SARE projects are available in a comprehensive, searchable database.

NCR-SARE provides extensive information about our grant programs and timelines.

WHAT IS SARE Outreach? 

SARE Outreach is SARE's outreach arm, providing field-ready information in print and electronic formats.

The national SARE program is comprised of the Northeast, South, West and North Central regions. The North Central region includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

South Dakota Farmer Uses No-Till and Cover Crops Practices to Improve Yields

Source: Cooking Up a Story (CUPS)

Dan Forgey, farm manager at Cronin Farms in South Dakota, has been using no-till management for more than 17 years. Over that time, Forgey has developed a keen understanding of how his farming system works and where new challenges and opportunities exist.

Several years ago, Forgey began thinking about how he might include cover crops on the 8500-acre farm to improve soil and the bottom line. But how best to do this in a no-till system? Usually, cover crops are tilled into the soil while they are still green in order to promote soil quality and fertility, but that is not an option in a no-till system. Forgey received a SARE grant to test the feasibility of using cover crops at Cronin Farms. It’s an on-going experiment, but after three years, results are promising. One cover crop mix of turnips, cowpeas and lentils increased corn yields by 18-20 bushels per acre in the SARE farm trials.

Other benefits include:

1. healthier soil, with increasing benefits over a period of 4 to 5 years
2. better soil aggregation and texture through the addition of organic matter and enhanced activity of soil microorganisms
3. economic savings as a result of reduced use of purchased fertilizer

Forgey is aware that the cover crops in this system may perform differently in drought years, when a cover crop could deplete soil water needed by the cash crop (wheat, corn, soybeans). He will monitor this closely in coming years. As for managing cover crops without tillage, Forgey’s answer is to have his cattle graze them. Enjoy watching this video to learn more. In addition, an information sheet describing how cover crops and livestock fit into a typical crop rotation at Cronin Farms (PDF) is available at the SARE Web site.

To read more about Forgey's NCR-SARE Farmer Rancher grant project, visit the SARE online reporting website here.