Project Overview
SAR18-002
Project Type: PDP State Program
Funds awarded in 2018: $11,111.00
Projected End Date: 06/30/2020
Grant Recipient:
University of Arkansas- Pine Bluff
Region: Southern
State: Arkansas
State Coordinator:
Dr. Henry English
University of Arkansas- Pine Bluff
Commodities
- Agronomic: corn, hay, mustard, peas (field, cowpeas), rice, sorghum (milo), soybeans, wheat
- Vegetables: cabbages, cucurbits, eggplant, okra, onions, peppers, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, turnips
- Animals: bees, bovine, goats, sheep
- Animal Products: eggs
Practices
- Animal Production: aquaculture, grazing - rotational
- Crop Production: cover crops, fertilizers, high tunnels or hoop houses, pollination, varieties and cultivars
- Education and Training: extension, workshop
- Farm Business Management: agricultural finance, budgets/cost and returns, business planning
- Pest Management: biological control
- Production Systems: aquaponics
- Soil Management: green manures
- Sustainable Communities: partnerships, urban agriculture
Abstract:
The UAPB Project was about helping Socially Disadvantaged Producers (SDPs) increase income on their operations by providing them with information on the economic of vegetable production along with education on sustainable vegetable production. Consequently, SDPs were provided with education on sustainable vegetable production practices in fields and high tunnels. Vegetable education is very limited in eastern Arkansas (this is row crop country, the average farms size can be 1000 acres), therefore, the staff had to attend vegetable meetings in other areas.
As a result of information gained from attending sustainable vegetable production workshops, the UAPB Extension Staff conducted three sustainable agriculture vegetable production workshops for producers. Two of the workshops were conducted in row crop areas to provide small row crop producers (those with less than 300 acres) with profitable alternatives. The staff also sponsored two high tunnel workshops and two food safety workshops.
Project objectives:
The objectives are:
To train the UAPB extension associates and staff on sustainable agriculture practices with an emphasis on vegetables production by attending workshops that provides sustainable agriculture education.
To help Limited Resource Farmers (LRFs) and SDPs with limited acres or row crop SDPs use sustainable vegetable production practices to grow vegetable crops to increase income on their small farms.
Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or SARE.