Final report for SAR20-002
Project Information
The UAPB SARE Program will provide sustainable agriculture training to UAPB Extension associates, program aides, mentor farmers, and CBOs. The UAPB Staff is located in eastern and southwest Arkansas therefore farmers in these areas will received training from the UAPB Staff. Training emphasis will be on improving soil health for row crops, vegetable crops, and pastures. Trainees in eastern Arkansas will work primarily with row crops and vegetable crops, while trainees in southwest Arkansas will work primarily with pastures and vegetable crops.
UAPB will partners with the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) to provide the trainees with information on NRCS conservation programs. These programs provide financial assistance to help producers install cover crops and other sustainable agriculture practices on their farms and ranches. Trainees will provide this information to participants along with information on different cover crops that are recommended by the Cooperative Extension Service. In addition, trainees will use soil compaction testers to help participants understand the need to break plow pans with cover crops.
Trainees will be educated on the benefit of rotational grazing for livestock producers. The trainees will also provide this information to livestock producers to help them improve their soils and their operation.
The objectives of this project are:
To teach and train the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff (UAPB) Extension associates, program aides, mentor farmers, and community-based organization (CBO) agents, on sustainable agriculture practices with an emphasis on improving soil health for row and vegetable crop producers.
To teach and train UAPB Extension associates, program aides, mentor farmers, and CBO agents, on sustainable agriculture practices with an emphasis on practicing rotational grazing to improve soil health.
Advisors
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Education
Due to the ongoing COVID19 Pandemic that occurred during this period, most of the educational information was provided through zoom meetings. The educational field days that we normally attended were canceled, however, some were conducted virtually. There was, however, a limited number of face-to-face visits that were conducted with social distancing and face masks.
Extension associates, program aides, and mentor farmers participated in several zoom meetings to obtain education and training on sustainable agriculture. Some of the zoom meetings were: (1) Soil and Water Conservation Field Trip – Soil Health, (2) Building Soil Heath in Arkansas, (3) Wildlife Discovery Farm Virtual Field Tour, (4) Pipe Planner Webinars (computer irrigation program that provides hole sizes for polypipe tubing), (5) Pivot Bio Virtual Field Day, and (6) LSU AgCenter 2020 Sweet Potato Research Station Virtual Field Day.
The UAPB Staff received education on the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) and its many conservation Practices. All producers received funding as incentives for installing these conservation practices, and Socially Disadvantaged Producers (SDP) received a payment of 90% of the average cost of the practice. Consequently, SDPs are informed about this payment especially about cover crops, residue management, no-till, prescribed grazing (rotational grazing), etc.
Education & Outreach Initiatives
To train UAPB Extension Staff and Mentor Farmers on sustainable agriculture practices with emphasis on improving soil health for row and vegetable crop SDPs.
The UAPB Staff received education from the many Zoom meeting, including NRCS education on conservation practices used to build soil health and the Zoom educational conservation field days. This information was shared or discussed with SDPs planning their 2021 spring crops. The advantages and benefits of cover crops, no-till, or residue management, etc., were discussed with SDPs. All were advised to consider signing up for the EQIP Program, which provided incentive payments for installing conservation practices.
The UAPB staff also provided education on selecting cover crops and advised SDPs to use the Cooperative Extension Service Cover Crop Fact Sheet to help select their specific cover crop.
Cover Crop Knowledge Gained - All farmers gained knowledge on planting times, moisture needed for planting, where to buy seeds and different ways (airplanes, spreaders, planters, etc.) of planting cover crops. The farmers also learned about terminating cover crops and growing into the cover crop residue. They also learned about adjustments of planters for planting into heavy residue.
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation Summary:
Learning Outcomes
Project Outcomes
The project staff is working with two additional community-based organizations that target SDPs.
Face of SARE
The SARE Program is promoted through our "Farm Sense" Quarterly Newsletter and our School of Agricultures Fisheries, and Human Sciences Facebook Web Page. It is also promoted through news articles that are placed in local newspapers.