Increasing Sustainable Agricultural Practices in Idaho

Commodities

• Agronomic: barley, grass (misc. annual), grass (misc. perennial), hops
• Animals: bovine, goats, sheep
• Animal Products: meat

Practices

• Animal Production: animal protection and health, feed/forage, grazing management, grazing - multispecies, grazing - rotational, rangeland/pasture management
• Crop Production: cover crops, cropping systems, crop rotation, double cropping, drought tolerance, varieties and cultivars, water management, winter storage
• Education and Training: display, extension, farmer to farmer, on-farm/ranch research, workshop
• Farm Business Management: agritourism, farm succession
• Pest Management: biological control
• Production Systems: integrated crop and livestock systems

This grant will fund sustainable agriculture practices and
research throughout the state of Idaho. The goal of this
three-year funding cycle is to spread these funds to all areas of
Idaho’s sustainable agriculture system to garner knowledge and
share results with farmers and ranchers. Many producers and
research faculty in Idaho are conducting great sustainable
agriculture research in all corners of our state and we would
like to give more opportunities for these groups to dive deeper
into their sustainable agriculture practices and be able to share
what they learn. This is why we plan to make a greater effort in
getting the word about SARE out to more organizations.

We plan to support projects that investigate the use of cover
crops in new and inventive ways. Increase our support in
rangeland management by attending and promoting SARE at more
rangeland centered programs and meetings. We will continue to
support many of the small farmer/rancher programs that have been
supported in the past as well as continued support of the
Regenerative ranching conferences. We will also increase our
outreach to more farmers and ranchers that may want to travel to
national conferences by offering them travel grant support.

The main objective of the three-year program will be to increase
the ability of Idaho producers to implement sustainable
agriculture practices on their farms and ranches. We will
increase knowledge of what sustainable practices are in Idaho and
how best to implement them on your farm or ranch. We will
increase the capacity of University of Idaho Extension Educators
to conduct field research and perform other necessary programs by
offering research and travel reimbursements. Training for
increased community involvement in sustainable agriculture
practices. We will continue our involvement with the University
of Idaho’s small farmer educational program, Cultivating Success,
and with a team working with beginning farmers and ranchers. We
will continue to support local producers, connect with buyers and
plan their production accordingly. This will improve access to
local foods and improve profitability for producers. Funds will
be used for training and support staff.

We will also continue to support professional development
opportunities for Extension professionals and others working in
sustainable agriculture, including support for research and
travel to conferences for professional development in sustainable
agriculture. We will also use the funds to travel to annual SARE
PDP meetings.