NCR SARE Indiana State Plan of Work 2025 - 2026

Commodities

Practices

Initiative 1: Structural Support for Food and Agricultural Systems

Initiative 2: Crop Diversification Practices to Enhance Regenerative Agriculture and Food Systems in all scales of agriculture

Initiative 3 - Integrated Approach to Our Natural Resource 

Initiative 4: Addressing the Needs of Underserved Audiences in Agriculture – Land Access and Ag Land Conservation

Initiative 5: Regional Initiative - Paths to sustainability with farm labor

Initiative 1: Structural Support for Food and Agricultural Systems

Primary Audience: BIPOC farmers and food producers

Black Loam Training and Professional Development

Expected Outcomes: Sustainable farming practices often come with significant costs typically paid for by farmers and ranchers. Like all business owners, producers are more likely to adopt sustainable practices, education, and development if there is a clear opportunity for a return on investment and less financial risk. Legacy Taste of the Garden aims to empower individuals and communities to become self-sustaining and economically sound through education, networking, and information. For 3 years, they have hosted the Black Loam Conference in locations throughout Indiana. The SARE PDP Initiative 1 will increase knowledge and opportunities for professional development, collaborations, education, and training in BIPOC farming communities in Indiana.

• Action #1: Legacy Taste of the Garden will send 2 representatives to the Sustainable Agricultural Summit in 2025 and 2026. This summit provides cutting-edge information on all aspects of the Agricultural industry. 
• Action #2: Legacy Taste of the Garden will partner with Black Soil of Kentucky to host 2 workshops in 2025 and 2026 on distribution, procurement, pricing, packaging, and marketing to farms and farmer leaders looking to develop stronger sustainability and value for their farms or products. We will plan, host, and support more than 40 black farmer leaders or product makers from Indiana.

Initiative 2: Crop Diversification Practices to Enhance Regenerative Agriculture and Food Systems in all scales of agriculture

• Action 1 – Organic Agronomy Professional Development: Indiana ag professionals in the public sector have recently demonstrated a need for training in organic agronomic principles. In 2024, 12 professionals representing NRCS, IASWCD, and Purdue Extension participated in the Organic Agronomy Training Service’s (OATS) Field Course, which teaches agronomic principles and organic certification regulations that apply to organic row crop systems. In addition, Indiana FSA, NRCS, and IASWCD were all represented as participants at the annual Indiana Organic Grain Farmer Meeting in 2024. With the advent of the 823 Conservation Practice Standard, USDA’s Transition to Organic Partnership Program, and new EQIP practices that may apply to organic row crop growers, there is a need to train more agency staff on how to respond to the unique needs of organic producers. In the 2025-2026 Plan of Work, eight ag professionals will receive a scholarship for half the cost of the OATS Field Course in 2025 and 4 ag professionals receive it in 2026. Ten ag professionals will be admitted to the Indiana Organic Grain Farmer Meeting for $80 each throughout 2025-2026. Goals for both offerings in 2025-2026 include participants reporting an increased knowledge level related to organic agronomic concepts and certification and meeting at least three new contacts in their professional network with organic expertise from attending these events.
• Action 2 - Indiana Diversified Farm Tours (4 events, 2 per yr) 2025 and 2026 120 ag professionals and farmer leaders in total. 30 per event x 2 = 60 per year in 2025 and 2026. These tours for ag professionals and farmer leaders are designed as two per year, one in the north and one in the south. The intent is to highlight diversified cropping operations, their products, and their soil health and conservation practices. Operations selected for the tours may include homesteads, livestock, perennial fruits and berries, mushrooms, syrup, specialty or vegetable crops, and controlled environments. The goals are to highlight diversified operations’ success stories and share the conservation practices integrated with their production practices.
• Action 3 - Get The Dirt 2025 and 2026 100 ag professionals and farmer leaders. 50 per event in 2025 and 2026.This is a full-day event for conservation and agricultural professionals (Indiana Conservation Partnership staff) who work with urban and small farmers, vegetable growers, and diversified farmers. Farmers are welcome to attend, as much of the information is relevant to producers, too. Topics focus on urban and small-farm soil health practices and additional conservation practices on diversified farms.
• Action 4 - Cover Crop Field Day 2025 and 2026 100 ag professionals and farmer leaders. 50 per event in 2025 and 2026. Cover crops are a constant topic of discussion in the world of agriculture. Agriculture professionals always seek information on cover crops and how to properly use them on their farms or the farms they advise. At a Cover Crop Field Day, we will host agriculture professionals and farmers on farms in Tipton and Howard counties to educate them about the proper use of cover crops. 

Initiative 3 - Integrated Approach to Our Natural Resource 

Indiana remains a leader in soil health practices and cover crop adoption. The various levels of knowledge across the state provide a need for a tiered training programs for professionals and specialized training for specific production models. Each program focuses on the environmental and economic sustainability of soil health practices while touching on the social aspects of these practices.  The ability to communicate, demonstrate and validate these practices at the local level are critical to increase adoption throughout the state.

Activities:  

• Intro to Soil Health Workshops typically have 30-40 attendees
• Core Soil Health Systems (6 virtual sessions and 2 in person) typically 40-60 virtual, 20 in-person
• Continuing Soil Health Education (1 year virtual; 1 year in person in 4 locations), typically 80+ for 1/year and 120 with 4 / year
• Soil Health and Sustainability for Midwestern Field Staff, typically 30-35
• NWF Grow More Training (Conservation Communication) 4 trainings in two years, about 60-80 ag professionals trained
• Conservation PARP topics created for ag professionals to use with farmers
• 120 ag professionals will learn about the annual cycle of farming (Ag 101)
• 100 ag professionals will learn about communicating agricultural activities to the Ag Community and the general public (Ag 102)
• 30 ag professionals will learn the value of on-farm research and demonstration plots to better adapt farm practices and communicate results. (Ag 103)

Initiative 4: Addressing the Needs of Underserved Audiences in Agriculture – Land Access and Ag Land Conservation

Accessing land is one of the largest barriers to sustaining and supporting Indiana’s current and future farmers, especially beginning and historically underserved farmers who struggle to find and afford farmland (Marion County Needs Assessment). Further, the rapid loss of Indiana farmland to development pressures, which has already exceeded predictions, compounds this issue (AFT 2024).

This funding cycle aims to build on the work initiated during 2023-2024 by the Indiana Farmland Community of Practice. Over the past year and a half, we learned from professionals nationwide focused on solutions to land access and farmland conservation. We identified four key strategies and developed two distinct deliverables. These deliverables target ag professionals, including policymakers, farm advocates, and educators.

In the upcoming year, we will concentrate on three main objectives: (1) Amplifying the lessons and strategies identified in our previous work, (2) implementing the projects developed by Community of Practice participants, (3) engaging a diverse group of agricultural professionals and stakeholders through conferences to share resources and build networks within the land access space.

Equipped with the appropriate resources and training, agricultural professionals and farmer leaders will be better positioned to push the envelope on effective farmland access and conservation solutions in Indiana and inform farmers of existing resources along the way

Activities (all of these are focused on ag professionals and farmer leaders)

1. Form a 6-person Action Committee that will engage in virtual monthly meetings, materials development, and two in-person meetings
2. Design and host a Land Access track (4 sessions) at the Small Farms Conference (March 2025)
3. Host farmland access/conservation session(s) at the Land Use Summit (August 2025)
4. Host farmland access/ conservation sessions(s) at the Black Loam Conference(s)
5. Host an on-farm Field Day focused on intensive workshops on land access and conservation

Expected Outcomes

Short Term

• The Action Committee will develop educational deliverables related to land access and conservation derived from the original Community of Practice findings and projects
• We will identify and recruit panelists and workshop facilitators to lead across the 8 conference sessions and Field Day
• We will identify Indiana-based partners in the land access/conservation space and invite them to participate in workshops

Intermediate

• 120-160 ag professionals will learn about clear strategies to improve farmland access and conservation in Indiana (15-20/session across the 8 sessions)
• Ag professionals and farmer leaders will have access to and information on curated resources on land access, land succession, and conservation easements
• 20-30 ag professionals will leave the Field Day with connections and clear action steps
• The Action committee will collect direct feedback from session participants on their experiences with land access

Long Term

• Ag professionals, policymakers, and elected officials will have more clarity on available federal funding for farmland conservation and access and therefore be more able to effectively act to acquire this funding.
• Ag professionals, farmer leaders, and elected officials will share information and strategies on farmland access/conservation to their networks, amplifying these ideas and resources
• There will be a more robust, connected network of ag professionals working on land access and farmland conservation, with awareness of systemic biases present in these spaces.

Initiative 5: Regional Initiative - Paths to sustainability with farm labor

As part of our regional initiative on “Paths to sustainability with farm labor,” we will send a team of educators from our state to a regional NCR-SARE training on the initiative to be held in 2025 at a Midwest location to be determined.  State SARE funds will be used to provide travel support to the educators attending the training.  Following the training event, we will convene the participating educators from our state to discuss and plan further how we can provide professional development on this labor topic for our state.  We will also communicate with other regional states working on this, including participating in further information exchange facilitated through the NCR-SARE PDP program.  Before the two-year funding cycle ends, we will implement one or more state-based professional development programs related to the regional initiative topic for educators and farmers in our state. State SARE funds will partially or fully cover the cost of delivering this professional development program in our state.

Evaluation: Every activity will involve a number of people who participated. We will ask them to share what they learned and gained from the experience, which they will take back to their communities. We will also ask for end-of-year surveys and measurements of knowledge gained and behaviors implemented.