Project Overview

View the project final report

• 2010 annual report
• 2011 annual report

Commodities

• Agronomic: barley, rye, grass (misc. perennial), hay

• Fruits: grapes

• Vegetables: onions

• Additional Plants: native plants

Practices

• Animal Production: feed/forage

• Education and Training: extension, workshop

• Energy: energy conservation/efficiency

• Farm Business Management: whole farm planning, new enterprise development, budgets/cost and returns, marketing management, farm-to-institution, risk management

Water is an increasingly scarce commodity in the west, and as more water is diverted from agricultural use to residential and industrial purposes, producers in the Great Basin are facing the challenge of sustaining the economic viability of their enterprise with less water.
Practices adopted by the producers may be an effective alternative to water management through policy change. Moving to alternative crops that use less water is one possibility.
By educating those individuals involved with relaying pertinent information to agricultural producers about alternative low water use crops and the associated decision-making tools that have been developed to facilitate implementation of lower water use crops, not only can the efficiency of resource utilization be improved but agricultural communities in the Great Basin can sustain their economic viability.

At the end of the program it is our goal that program participants will have increased knowledge and skills regarding sustainable agriculture, as well as an enhanced ability to effectively deliver knowledge and skills to agricultural producers. The following is an overview of expected program short, medium and long-term outcomes for program participants.

• Understanding of economic, political, and environmental benefits of reducing water use in agriculture
  Understand the basic agronomics of alternative crops available to producers in the Great Basin
  Understand the components of evaluating the economic feasibility of low water use crops
  Ability to use the IRRIG-AID spreadsheet

• Create plan to introduce seminar curriculum and other SARE resources into producer programming
  Work one-on-one with producers to evaluate the economic feasibility of alternative low water use crops on their farm/ranch
  Provide an overview of the benefits of utilizing the IRRIG-AID spreadsheet tool and demonstrate its use to producers

• Assist agricultural producers in implementing low water use crops on their farm/ranch
  Assist producers with the measurement of changes in water use and resulting environmental improvements such as water and soil quality
  Assist producers with the measurement of changes in profitability and economic sustainability of alterative crop use