Project Overview
Annual Reports
Commodities
- Agronomic: barley, corn, soybeans, grass (misc. perennial), hay
- Additional Plants: trees
- Animals: bovine, swine
- Animal Products: dairy
Practices
- Animal Production: feed/forage, pasture renovation, grazing - rotational
- Crop Production: conservation tillage
- Education and Training: demonstration, extension, farmer to farmer, on-farm/ranch research
- Farm Business Management: whole farm planning, new enterprise development, marketing management, value added
- Natural Resources/Environment: biodiversity, riparian buffers, riverbank protection
- Production Systems: holistic management, transitioning to organic
- Soil Management: soil analysis, composting
- Sustainable Communities: infrastructure analysis, new business opportunities, partnerships, urban/rural integration
Abstract:
[Note to online version: The report for this project includes tables and appendices that could not be included here. The regional SARE office will mail a hard copy of the entire report at your request. Just contact North Central SARE at (402) 472-7081 or ncrsare@unl.edu.]
Through this grant Practical Farmers of Iowa, in cooperation with Iowa State University Extension, organized and carried out three sustainable agriculture-oriented in-service training sessions on working farms in the summer of 1998. The objective was to acquaint participants, especially staff of agencies working in agriculture, with farm-based perspectives on issues ranging from water quality to direct marketing.
The three training sessions were formulated with input from a number of agencies, both federal and state, and drew on local resource people to address local priority issues. Presenters included farmers, small businesspeople, rural development agents, university scientists, and agency personnel. The most effective sessions were those utilizing farmers and teams of farmers with other professionals. The training was well-rated by participants, but organizers learned much that will improve future agency and inter-agency events like these. The sessions also expanded the list of agency contacts on topics related to sustainable agriculture.
Project objectives:
The following is the project objective as expressed in the proposal:
Objective: to train NRCS and Extension staff and farmers in innovative practices and systems approaches that show promise for use in EQIP, whole-farm planning, and on-going agency functions.