2025-26 Nebraska Plan of Work

Commodities

Practices

Nebraska SARE continues to provide training, educational materials, and resources for agricultural educators in Nebraska.  While agricultural sustainability is the broad focus of our outreach, more direct focus will be placed on our 4 state initiatives:

1. Regional Initiative: Paths to Sustainability with Farm Labor
2. Building Farm Resilience
3. Healthy Soils and Water
4. Building, Supporting, and Maintaining Local Food Systems        

Through travel scholarships, mini-grants, educational materials, and direct support, Nebraska SARE provides support for all Nebraskans seeking more sustainable forms of agriculture production.

Our statewide initiatives outlined below will provide direction for the efforts of Nebraska SARE through the 2025-2026 budget period.  While agricultural sustainability is the primary directive of these efforts, the Nebraska SARE Advisory Board also wanted to across all efforts, pay special attention to meeting the needs of underserved audiences  (beginning, socially disadvantaged, veterans, and limited resource farmers) and provide educational opportunities that provide a family friendly (support for new mothers, childcare and youth track options) atmosphere.  To help in this effort, all funding applications will include a question that asks if and how an underserved audience is being served and how programs may provide additional support for producer families.

1. Regional Initiative: Paths to Sustainability with Farm Labor

As part of our regional initiative: “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 or 2026 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 further discuss and plan how we can provide professional development on this labor topic for our state.  We will also stay in communication with other states in the region working on this, including participating in further information exchange facilitated through the NCR-SARE PDP program.  Before the end of the two-year funding cycle, 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 be used to partially or fully cover the cost of delivering this professional development program in our state.

• Expected Outcomes:
  • 5 Ag Educators will use the knowledge and resources they gained participating in the North Central Regional Training Program offered to address farm labor sustainability and use that knowledge to develop trainings in Nebraska.
  • Through regional and state programs, 20 Ag Educators will increase their knowledge of strategies they can utilize to better equip farmers and ranchers to deal with farm labor sustainability issues.
  • 5 Ag Educators will initiate programs to train farmers to better address farm labor sustainability on their operations.
  • 50 farmers and ranchers will participate in an activity (i.e. workshop, study tour, webinars, or short course) that will increase their ability to deal with farm labor sustainability challenges.

• Activity: 
  • A team from Nebraska will participate in the NCR-SARE regional initiative focusing on “Paths to Sustainability with Farm Labor” and bring knowledge from the training back to the state.
  • Participants in the NCR-SARE regional training will initiate in-service training opportunities for other ag educators. These programs will increase their knowledge of strategies educators can utilize to better equip farmers and ranchers to deal with farm labor sustainability issues.
  • We will use diverse strategies (i.e webinars, virtual tours, workshops, and field days) to provide professional development of ag educators and train farmers. When appropriate, we will offer SARE-funded travel scholarships and mini-grants for educators working with farmers and ranchers on programs related to farm labor sustainability.

• Evaluation:
  • Educators receiving SARE support will fill out post event evaluations providing knowledge gain and reach of impact through subsequent programing.
  • Programs receiving SARE support will provide post-event evaluations providing information on people reached, participant knowledge gained, and participant behavior change due to the training.

2. Building Farm Resilience

Resilient farms are essential to face the challenges of uncertainty in markets, weather, pests, and other obstacles faced in agriculture.  To help producers build resiliency into their agricultural systems Nebraska SARE plans to help support educators grow their knowledge of building resilient farms and passing that along to producers.  These topics may include but are not limited to: diversification of production systems, dealing with weather disruptions, changing pest challenges, shifting climate impacts and plant hardiness zones, promoting wildlife habitat, and integration of indigenous peoples and other non-western production systems

• Expected Outcomes:
  • 5 Ag Educators will attend events to build knowledge on impacts of weather and climate on ag production systems to share strategies for mitigation with producers.
  • 5 Ag Educators will increase their knowledge of ways to build resilience into ag production systems through strategies like diversification of products, wildlife habitat, and non-traditional production systems to share with producers.
  • 5 Ag Educators will initiate training programs that will provide producers with techniques to increase resilience on their farms.
  •  50 farmers and ranchers will participate in an activity (i.e. workshop, study tour, webinars, or short course) that will include strategies that increase resilience in their operation.

• Activity:
  • Avenues to collaborate with current resilience building initiatives will be sought out including groups like Weather Ready Farms, educators working with the USDA Risk Management Agency, and individual efforts.
  • Support for educators to attend trainings in this area will increase knowledge of risk for Nebraska producers and provide strategies to address identified weaknesses.
  • We will use diverse strategies (i.e webinars, virtual tours, workshops, and field days) to provide professional development of ag educators and train farmers. When appropriate, we will offer SARE-funded travel scholarships and mini-grants for educators working with farmers and ranchers on programs related to farm labor sustainability.

• Evaluation:
  • Educators receiving SARE support will fill out post event evaluations providing knowledge gain and reach of impact through subsequent programing.
  • Programs receiving SARE support will provide post-event evaluations providing information on people reached, participant knowledge gained, and participant behavior change due to the training.

3. Healthy Soils and Clean Water

Stewardship of natural resources is critical for the sustainability of agricultural systems, with soil and water forming a bedrock for agricultural production.  Nebraska SARE recognizes these critical components of agriculture and strives to provide education, resources, and support to maintain healthy and functional soil and water resources.  To do so, outreach may include areas such as: cover crop integration, fertility management, assessment of current resources for planning (soil/water testing), and utilization of natural soil building and water buffering techniques like waterway buffers and prairie strips.

• Expected Outcomes:
  • 25 Ag Educators will increase knowledge of techniques to improve surface and groundwater quality in diversified cropping & crop/livestock systems in Nebraska.   
  • 25 Ag Educators will increase knowledge soil health principles in crop and livestock production systems.
  • 15 Ag Educators will initiate training programs/on-farm research to promote soil health and water quality.
  • 50 farmers and ranchers will participate in an activity (i.e. workshop, study tour, webinars, or short course) that will result in changed practices on their operation that improve soil health and/or water quality.

• Activity:
  • SARE will continue to support training for educators through travel scholarships to learn about soil health and water quality initiatives through on-going research, collaborators like NRCS and cover crop seed industry, and producers.
  • Mini grants will be used to support research outreach and educational events like the Cover Crop Grazing Conference, Soil Health Nexus, and No-Till Conference.
  • SARE publications on soil health and water quality will be shared with collaborators and used to build connections and further outreach when appropriate.

• Evaluation:
  • Educators receiving SARE support will fill out post event evaluations providing knowledge gain and reach of impact through subsequent programing.
  • Programs receiving SARE support will provide post-event evaluations providing information on people reached, participant knowledge gained, and participant behavior change due to the training.

4. Building, Developing, and Maintaining Local Food Systems        

Local food systems provide unique opportunities for agricultural producers to practice and promote sustainability in growing, producing, and marketing products.  They also are a critical entry point for small scale and beginning producers to begin their journey in sustainable agriculture production.  Nebraska SARE will focus on supporting these producer and their efforts.  Areas of focus may include: developing local markets, improving marketing techniques, connecting to specialty and ethnic markets, supporting underserved producers, aggregation current producer groups and markets, and developing and supporting educational/professional networks.

• Expected Outcomes
  • 20 ag educators that participate in educational programs and gain knowledge about local food systems to better help producers.
  • 5 ag educators will develop programs that build or strengthen local food systems in Nebraska.
  • 75 farmers will attend a local food system conferences that provide educational and networking opportunities for attendees.

• Activity
  • Leveraging existing educators and partners working in local food systems, opportunities for SARE support will be shared with producers
  • Programs supporting local food systems will be made available for producers through educators increased skills in local foods by educational support from Nebraska SARE.
  • Continued support and collaboration with the Nebraska Sustainable Ag Society will be a cornerstone in this area with the NSAS Healthy Farms Conference being a focal point.  This conference is made available to ag educators that focus on sustainable agriculture issues. 

• Evaluation:
  • Educators receiving SARE support will fill out post event evaluations providing knowledge gain and reach of impact through subsequent programing.
  • Programs receiving SARE support will provide post-event evaluations providing information on people reached, participant knowledge gained, and participant behavior change due to the training.