Sustainable Ag News

Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF) announced that its free course, Soil Health Strategies for the Southern Region, is now available online. The self-directed course is based on the OFRF guidebook Building Healthy Living Soils for Successful Organic Farming in the Southern Region. It dives into the application of organic soil health principles through a series of practical modules with concepts and strategies, illustrated by innovative farmer stories. The goal of this new course is to help the region’s current and aspiring organic producers develop effective, site-specific soil health management strategies that support successful, resilient enterprises.

Cornell Small Farms Program announced that its fourth block of online courses will begin live instruction in February. Courses have tiered pricing based on household size and income, and course content is permanently available to registered students. Topics for this session include woodlot management, grazing management, tree fruit production, and farm business.

Alabama Extension’s free, online Farming Basics Program is preparing to launch a second online course in 2023. New additions to the Farming Basics Online Course will provide more in-depth knowledge and explore new topic areas, including farm management and marketing, soil and soil fertility, pest management, vegetable and fruit production, beef and forage management, and agritourism. Upon course completion, the curriculum generates a customized certificate that provides four continuing education units (CEUs) from the American Agronomy Society and the American Society for Horticultural Science. New lessons in the Farming Basics Online Course will publish gradually during the course of 2023.

The Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture announced release of the 3rd edition of its publication Sweet Sorghum: Production and Processing, by George Kuepper. The new third edition incorporates a previously published article, also written by Kuepper, on sweet sorghum varieties with resistance to the sugar cane aphid, which emerged as a serious pest of sorghum in 2013. The publication is available for sale online or in print.

USDA has announced the details of additional assistance for dairy producers, including a second round of payments through the Pandemic Market Volatility Assistance Program (PMVAP) and a new Organic Dairy Marketing Assistance Program (ODMAP). PMVAP assists producers who received a lower value due to market abnormalities caused by the pandemic and ensuing Federal policies. As a result of the production cap increase, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will make PMVAP payments to eligible dairy farmers for fluid milk sales between 5 million and 9 million pounds from July through December 2020. The new ODMAP, to be administered by USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), is intended to help smaller organic dairy farms that have faced a unique set of challenges and higher costs over the past several years that have been compounded by the ongoing pandemic and drought conditions across the country. The assistance will help eligible organic dairy producers with up to 75% of their future projected marketing costs in 2023, based on national estimates of marketing costs. This assistance will be provided through a streamlined application process based on a national per hundredweight payment.

Organizers of the first-ever Mid-Atlantic Grain Fair & Conference, set for October 22-23, 2023, in Washington, D.C., are welcoming proposals for presentations and workshops through February 24, 2023. The event will celebrate Mid-Atlantic grains and discuss ways to strengthen the Mid-Atlantic grain value chain. Share your ideas for inspiring speakers, exhibits, workshops, tastings, and hands-on learning opportunities, all showcasing the robust nature and possibility of Mid-Atlantic grains. Areas of interest for proposals are specified online.

The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) makes resources available to farmers who are transitioning to a new career or seeking off-farm employment, including a new job-hunting workbook. The free, self-paced workbook for farmers includes information on setting goals, identifying transferable skills, searching for jobs, resume and cover letter writing, and interviewing skills. In addition to the workbook, DATCP’s Farm Center offers transition planning services, including assistance with goal setting, analyzing farm viability, reviewing plans, mitigating risk, and implementing strategies.

Cornell University plant breeder and geneticist Martha Mutschler-Chu is the leader of a research program that has developed 20 research lines for insect-resistant tomatoes. Pest resistance was developed by introducing traits from a wild tomato in Peru. The plants excrete acylsugars that repulse insects, including western flower thrips that spread spotted wilt virus and sweet potato whiteflies that transmit yellow leaf curl virus. The tomato lines are available through the U.S. Department of Agriculture germplasm system and the Tomato Genetics Resource Center at University of California-Davis for commercial seed companies to research breeding them into commercial varieties.

A regional project “Match Made In Heaven: Livestock + Crops” is surveying farmers in six states to learn about a growing movement to reintegrate crop and livestock systems in the cornbelt. Farmers in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin are invited to fill out a 15-minute online survey on the opportunities and barriers related to these integrated systems. Amy Fenn, the project’s coordinator, says, “The survey will be used to identify strategies for capturing the environmental, economic, and social benefits of integrated systems and share this information with partners across the region.” “Match Made In Heaven: Livestock + Crops” is a collaboration of more than 50 groups, funded through an NCR-SARE grant developed by Green Lands Blue Waters at the University of Minnesota.
Related ATTRA publication: Integrating Livestock and Crops: Improving Soil, Solving Problems, Increasing Income

A new report commissioned by the Walton Family Foundation, titled U.S. Agriculture and the Net-Zero Challenge, explores 24 practices and technologies that can reduce net emissions from U.S. agriculture across three categories: how we grow, what and how we eat, and how we use land. The report indicates that with concerted and coordinated effort by key actors across the agri-food value chain – including policymakers, researchers, companies, farmer and ranchers, and consumers, we could achieve a 50% or more reduction in net emissions by 2050 while also improving livelihoods and the resiliency of our agri-food system. The Walton Family Foundation notes that much of the “how we grow” category includes practices that we have known are good for soil health and the environment for the last 50 years, including cover-cropping, no-till farming, and other sustainable farming practices that protect soil and water.

As part of its tree-crop development work, the Savanna Institute created marketing materials to help grow demand for black currants and educate the public about their benefits. These include a two-minute video and a fact sheet available in English and Spanish that provide an overview of the fruit and highlight its health benefits for consumers. A black currant grower’s guide is forthcoming.

USDA National Organic Program (NOP) published the Strengthening Organic Enforcement (SOE) final rule, an update to the USDA organic regulations. USDA says that SOE protects organic integrity and bolsters farmer and consumer confidence in the USDA organic seal by supporting strong organic control systems, improving farm to market traceability, increasing import oversight authority, and providing robust enforcement of the organic regulations. Organic operations, certifying agents, and other organic stakeholders affected by the rule will have one year from the effective date of the rule (March 20, 2023) to comply with the changes. Among other provisions, the rule will establish specific qualification and training requirements for certifying agent personnel and require certifying agents to conduct unannounced inspections of at least 5% of the operations they certify.

The National Audubon Society announced that Audubon Conservation Ranching has awarded Bird-Friendly Habitat Certification to its 100th ranch. The 6,300-acre Badger Creek Ranch in central Colorado can now market beef produced on the ranch and sold under the Badger Creek Ranch brand with the Audubon Certified bird-friendly seal. This package label recognizes product origin as lands managed for birds and biodiversity. Chrissy and Dave McFarren will manage Badger Creek with rotational grazing to provide a mosaic of habitat for priority birds. Ranch director Chrissy McFarren sees the Audubon certification and the Audubon Certified bird-friendly seal not only as validation of their ranch management practices but an important way to convey their conservation ethic to consumers.
Related ATTRA publication: Pasture, Rangeland, and Adaptive Grazing

In Rotterdam, a high-tech floating microdairy offers a new take on local food production, reports the Guardian. The dairy consists of nearly nearly 10,000 square feet of space floating on pontoons that includes space for feeding and milking its 40 cows, milk-processing and cheesemaking facilities, and a space to age cheese. The cows are able to cross a gangplank to waterside pasture, and are also fed clippings from sports fields in the city. The concept’s inventor says it makes sense to be able to produce food in an area where land values are high, and the floating structure can cope with sea-level rise or flooding. He’s also looking at adapting the concept to create a floating vegetable farm and replicating the floating farm elsewhere to help produce more food in urban areas.

A Washington State University study showed that synthetic ammonia for fertilizer could be produced cost-effectively using water or steam electrolysis. Researchers say the methods could be particularly suited to small-scale operations and being powered by renewable energy. The researchers tested both a water hydrolysis and a solid oxide electrolysis (SOE) that uses steam for a simplified, renewable ammonia production process. Production costs for both methods were comparable to conventional, fossil-fuel-based ammonia production. Researchers say the simplicity of the process and modularity of components mean that it is especially suitable to local production, which they say could start taking place on large farms and at the community level as early as 2024.
Related ATTRA Resource: Toolkit: How to Reduce Synthetic Fertilizer Use

The National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) is teaming up with the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture’s Veterans Urban Farm program and University of Missouri Extension to bring NCAT’s Armed to Farm training to Columbia, Missouri, April 10-14, 2023. Armed to Farm allows veterans and their spouses to experience sustainable, profitable small-scale farming enterprises and explore career opportunities in agriculture. At Armed to Farm, participants learn about business planning, budgeting, recordkeeping, marketing, USDA programs, livestock production, fruit and vegetable production, and more. This free training is for veterans in the Midwest, with preference given to those in Missouri. Applications must be submitted by February 24, 2023.

The U.S. is facing an alarming shortfall of veterinarians to treat livestock and poultry in rural areas, threatening public health, food safety, and economic growth in communities that depend on agriculture, according to a new report commissioned by Farm Journal Foundation. Addressing the Persistent Shortage of Food Animal Veterinarians and Its Impact on Rural Communities was authored by Cornell University’s Dr. Clinton Neill. “The decline in food animal veterinarians in rural areas heightens concerns for a number of risks, including food safety threats, animal disease outbreaks, the potential passing of animal diseases to human populations, and decreasing rural economic growth,” Neill said. “In essence, veterinarians protect the whole of the human and animal population, so it is critical that we have a strong pipeline of practitioners to work in rural areas.” The report highlights a number of solutions that the U.S. government could deploy to improve the long-term sustainability of the rural veterinary workforce.
Related ATTRA publication: Tips for Working with a Veterinarian

Pennsylvania announced the first recipients of the PA Farm Bill’s Farmer Veteran Grant program. The program is available through the Agriculture Business Development Center, and it awarded $200,000 to two veterans’ service organizations, Community Partnership Inc. and Pennsylvania Veteran Farming Network, which are offering the farmer veteran grants. The Pennsylvania Veteran Farming Network announced its first 11 recipients, for a total of $93,525. The grants will support purchase of cattle handling equipment, hay storage, value-added processing equipment for chicken, livestock watering equipment, and construction of a farm store, among other projects.

The Soil & Agroecosystems Lab at the University of Michigan is seeking farmers to participate in a citizen science study to understand variation in cover crop growth across different farming conditions. This research will help inform site-specific recommendations for improving cover crop performance in the Great Lakes. If you or someone you know is currently growing overwintering cover crops, please consider participating. Participants will receive $50 per cover cropped field (for up to two fields) and a personalized cover crop performance report

UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, UC Cooperative Extension, the Napa Resource Conservation District, and the Community Alliance with Family Farmers have created a searchable database of orchard and vineyard growers experienced in growing cover crops that will help other growers bring the benefits of the practice to their operations. The database describes cover cropping strategies, details of field practices, benefits and challenges experienced by cover crop growers in orchards and vineyards in the southern Sacramento Valley (including the Capay Valley) and the North Coast viticulture region. 
Related ATTRA publication: Soils and Sites for Organic Orchards and Vineyards