Showing 371-380 of 408 results
In Drought-stricken Texas, Researchers are Finding Water Conservation Solutions in Cover Crops
LUBBOCK, Texas – In the Texas High Plains, a region where the water-depleting Ogallala Aquifer endangers productive agriculture, and hot, arid winds erode soils and rob them of nutrients, cover crops offer a useful option to livestock producers. In a two-year graduate student study at Texas Tech University, funded through the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research […]
Pueo are Much More than Pest-Management
If you can encourage a threatened native species, help control non-native pests, benefit the state’s farmers and preserve a culturally important icon, you’ve hit an ecological grand slam. That’s exactly what the University of Hawaii’s Melissa Price is trying to do with the islands’ pueo owls. The striking, dark birds are a species of short-eared, […]
Agriculture in U.S. Virgin Islands Challenging, But Prevailing with Sustainable Agriculture Practices
CHRISTIANSTED, St. Croix – For months, a 14,000-gallon water tank has been sitting on its side in the middle of Frederick Miller’s Moringa tree orchard. Winds from Hurricane Maria had rolled the tank down the hillside of his farm, and he still hasn’t figured out yet how he’s going to move it. Yvette and Dale […]
Cover Crops Do Not Deplete Stored Water in the Soil Profile, Clemson Researchers Find
CLEMSON, South Carolina – Among the myriad of benefits cover crops provide to a row crop or vegetable operation, Clemson University researchers have found another one: Cover crops do not deplete water stored in the soil profile, thus preserving the precious resource for the cash crop – an all important function, specifically in times of […]
Cover Crops Have Benefits in High Tunnels
GLENWOOD, Georgia – Barley and hairy vetch growing vigorously in a high tunnel at Lola’s Organic Farm in southeast Georgia were going to seed. It was mid-April. Time to mow and prepare the soil for the summer’s cash crops: ginger and turmeric. Since last year, couple Jennifer Taylor and Ron Gilmore – USDA certified organic […]
Charles Francis: NCR-SARE Hero
Read more about Charles Francis.
Robert Wills: NCR-SARE Hero
Read more about Bob Wills.
It Doesn't Take Long for Soils to Reap the Benefits of Cover Crops
HORSE SHOE, North Carolina – Whitaker Farms, a family vegetable operation nestled on the edge of the Pisgah National Forest, has been managed conventionally for generations. But last year, owner Phillip Whitaker decided to take part in a study to test the benefits of no-till and cover crops on soil health. Despite the short period […]
Students Breeds Beans for Organic Farming
Graduate students at the University of California, Davis, have begun field tests on very rare commodities: high-yield, disease-resistant bean varieties that can thrive on organic farms. “Most crops—about 95 percent—have been bred for conventional farming and can be difficult to grow in organic systems,” said Travis Parker, a Ph.D. student in plant biology who is […]
Reducing Medusahead and Preparing the Land for Restoration
"Ranchers are hurting." That one thought is why Kip Panter, Research Animal Scientist at the USDA-ARS in Utah, is passionate about the collaborative work he, other Utah-based researchers, extension professionals, and ranchers have led to restore degraded grasslands. The inspired project team, studying at three ranches, found a “really good economical way to reduce medusahead […]