Project Overview
Commodities
- Agronomic: corn, grass (misc. annual), grass (misc. perennial), hay, potatoes
- Animal Products: dairy, eggs, meat
Practices
- Animal Production: animal protection and health, feed/forage, meat processing, range improvement
- Crop Production: food processing facilities/community kitchens
- Education and Training: extension, on-farm/ranch research, workshop
- Pest Management: biological control, cultural control, integrated pest management
- Soil Management: soil analysis
Abstract:
In 2021: Idaho's agriculture industry has a wide diversity of scale and types of production. From the small family farm to mega agriculture corporations the scale and productivity of agriculture production in Idaho is constantly changing. The goal of Idaho's SARE PDP program is to meet the needs of Idaho's agricultural industry to encourage sustainability at all levels. We will continue our support of the University of Idaho’s agricultural education programs, including but not limited to Cultivating Success, Beginning Farmer and Rancher, and other programs directed at improving farmer viability. A portion of the three-year funds will support training opportunities for small to medium-size farmers to increase the distribution and sales of local foods. As the access to local food may be increasing the knowledge and ability to prepare and cook local food still has room for improvement through education. To address this need in Idaho the SARE program coordinators and collaborators held meetings to determine the educational needs of Idaho producers to meet this need. After a series of meetings, it was determined the best approach was to send an online survey to Idaho producers on how best to address the local food access issue. In year two this survey will be developed and launched. In addition, four mini-grant awards were funded to increase knowledge of sustainable agriculture practices across Idaho.
In 2022: Idaho's agriculture industry has a wide diversity of scale and types of production. From the small family farm to mega agriculture corporations the scale and productivity of agriculture production in Idaho is constantly changing. The goal of Idaho's SARE PDP program is to meet the needs of Idaho's agricultural industry to encourage sustainability at all levels. We will continue our support of the University of Idaho’s agricultural education programs, including but not limited to Cultivating Success, Beginning Farmer and Rancher, and other programs directed at improving farmer viability. A portion of the three-year funds will support training opportunities for small to medium-size farmers to increase the distribution and sales of local foods through the organization FARE. Through a partnership with FARE we strive to increase the access of local food to more consumers in Idaho in addition this increases the viability and profitability of small and medium size food producing businesses in Idaho. In addition, four mini-grant awards were funded to increase knowledge of sustainable agriculture practices across Idaho. These mini-grants meet the goals of SARE through demonstrating ways to increase sustainability in rural communities in Idaho.
Project objectives:
The main objective of the three-year program is to increase the outreach of sustainable agriculture practices in Idaho. We will increase knowledge of using local produce from farmers' market vendors, community gardens, and local food banks. We will continue to increase the capacity of University of Idaho Extension Educators to conduct field demonstrations and perform other necessary programs by offering outreach and travel reimbursements.
We will continue our involvement with the University of Idaho’s small farmer education program, Cultivating Success, and with the team that is working on a USDA Beginning Farmer & Rancher grant entitled “Cultivating Success™ Idaho: Advanced Skill Building for Beginning Farmers and Ranchers through Hands-on, In-depth Production Education” project. A portion of grant funds will be used to support the ongoing development and extension of an online farmers market exchange to communities throughout the state. This is a continuation of the local food system development funded by Western SARE in 2018. Funds will be used to support professional development opportunities for Extension professionals and others working in sustainable agriculture, including support for outreach and travel to conferences for professional development in the area of sustainable agriculture. We will also use the funds to travel to annual SARE PDP meetings.