Project Overview
Commodities
Practices
Proposal abstract:
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech and the School of Agriculture at Virginia State University are strongly committed to collaborating to strengthen Virginia's SARE Professional Development Program to benefit the quality of life of all Virginians. Virginia Tech and Virginia State University, along with SARE Advisory Committee partner organizations, continue to host and sponsor professional development workshops and programs together to build knowledge and educational capacity for sustainable farming and food businesses across Virginia. Ecological soil management, cover cropping, community food systems, integrated livestock enterprises, regenerative grazing, agroforestry, and overall market diversification continue to be core SARE programming areas, while climate-smart farming, cooperative and alliance-oriented business structures, and farm transition are pressing educational needs. Virginia SARE through professional development programming and resources seeks to expand local and regional food system development opportunities and value chain access for Virginia farmers, food businesses, and communities. Our statewide SARE programming seeks to equitably serve all of agriculture and the diverse expanse of Virginia farmers and farms. Virginia SARE integrates and emphasizes the community, economic, and ecological components of sustainability and viability in rural and urban settings. The 2025 - 2026 outreach goal is to reach through professional development programming at least 750 educators, farmers, and professionals. Virginia Tech SARE anticipates partnering with Virginia's Association for Biological Farming, Virginia Forage and Grassland Council, Virginia Farm to Table, USDA-NRCS, the Agroforestry Regional Knowledge (ARK) network, and the VSU Small Farm Outreach Programming on Virginia SARE professional development programming in Virginia.
Project objectives from proposal:
Virginia Tech anticipates the training objectives for 2025 - 2026 will closely align with the previous year's training objectives. However, funding would support travel scholarships ($12,000), honoraria for resource speakers and consultant support for mentor farmers as field visit hosts and speakers ($5,600), educational materials and supplies ($2,400), and indirect costs ($2,000).
- To increase knowledge of core soil health principles, ecological soil management, agroforestry, and conservation.
- To enhance knowledge of regenerative grazing and integrative livestock management for natural resources conservation.
- To explore direct market channels and emerging wholesale marketing opportunities to include food chain aggregation and processing for small producers.
- To develop pathways for beginning farmers via registered apprenticeship and incubator farm models to address land access issues.
- To improve understanding of the role of Extension and USDA professionals in sustainable community, local, and regional food systems development, and networking.
Interest in agroforestry, silvopasture systems, and urban agriculture is growing among Extension personnel and farmers across Virginia and the Southeast, therefore, Virginia SARE wants to be strategically supportive to leverage professional development opportunities in these interest areas moving forward in 2025 - 2026.
Virginia SARE's audience includes Extension Agents (VCE), VSU'sSmall Farm Outreach Program educators, USDA-Farm Service Agency (FSA), USDA-Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), and Soil and Water ConservationDistrict personnel, non-government organizations (NGOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs), mentor-farmer leaders, and underserved limited resource farmers, landowners, and community leaders, including African‐Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, women, and persons who have limited access to land, labor, and capital regarding sustainable agriculture practices and Southern Region SARE programs and resources.