First the chicken, then the eggplant
For health reasons, Lusia Leofili would like to see his family eat more vegetables. But vegetables in local stores are often too expensive, mainly because they’re imported. Leofili, who raises bananas and 10-15 chickens, will use his Western SARE grant to explore ways to raise more chickens in portable pens. Not only would this method increase the number of chickens for home use, he could grow vegetables on the newly fertilized ground. His portable 6-foot by 8-foot pen, built on wheels, will have slatted floors so manure can drop through to the ground but the eggs cannot. He will move the pen every other week or monthly, leaving the ground beneath fallow for two weeks, after which he will plant tomatoes, eggplant, spinach, Chinese cabbage, cucumber, spring onions and herbs.
Project Title: Using Portable Chicken Farming to Improve Home Vegetable
Garden
Project Number: FW04-032 (Farmer/Rancher grant)
Amount Funded: $1,570
Project Coordinator Lusia Leofili, Pago Pago, AS, (684) 688-1151
Technical Advisor: Laura Laumatia, American Samoa Community College
Agriculture Extension Program Manager, Pago Pago, AS (684) 699-1575,
laumatia_l@yahoo.com
Grassroots project to lift Samoan women
Tauaga is a tropical plant with fibrous leaves that are dried, processed and used as strainers in Samoan culture. Tauaga used to be grown and processed by individual families for their own use, but today most is imported from Independent Samoa and sold in local stores. The American Samoa Women’s Business Center Agri-business Program will use its SARE grant to grow, process and market Tauaga. Ten percent of the proceeds will to toward improving the group’s marketing efforts and 90% to individual members. Program members will work with American Samoa Community College Land Grant to develop and improve propagation and cultivation techniques. By producing and processing Tauaga for their own use, local women not only will be making use of American Samoa’s natural resources, they’ll be generating supplemental income for their families.
Project Title: ASWBC Tauaga
Project Number: FW04-033 (Farmer/Rancher Grant)
Amount Funded: $2,000
Project Coordinator Lynn Uiagalelei, American Samoa Women’s Business
Center, Pago Pago, AS (684) 699-8739, nasacwbc2@samoatelco.com
Technical Advisor: Amio Mavaega-Luvu, American Samoa Community College
Agriculture Extension Agent, (684) 699-5011, amiol@yahoo.com
Gauging compost for vegetable production
While the use of compost has increased in American Samoa, few producers are monitoring to see how the compost affects soil fertility or vegetable production. Lina Tuifalasia will use the SARE grant to see how the organic method of composting increases soil fertility. Two equal size plots will be compared, one with the current method of clearing weeds and planting seedlings and the other using composting and tilling. The same vegetables will be planted in both plots – cucumber, cabbage, spring onion and eggplant – and the production compared to assess any values that might derive from compost. Tuifalasia’s hope is that the compost will add nitrogen and potassium to soils currently deficient in those nutrients, which will increase his production and the income from vegetables sold at the market.
Project Title: Organic Vegetable Farming in American Samoa
Project Number: FW04-204 (Farmer/Rancher grant with organic emphasis)
Amount Funded: $2,496
Project Coordinator Lina Tuifalasia, Pago Pago, AS (684) 699-2703
Technical Advisor: Laura Laumatia, American Samoa Community College
Agriculture Extension Program Manager, (684) 699-1575
Cultivating tradition with Navajo foods
This project will build on results from an earlier grant in which Teresa Showa of the Ganado Farm Board outlined how Navajo farmers could grow, process and market traditional Navajo corn products, including neeshjizhi and kneel down bread. Long-term drought and faulty irrigation water delivery systems have hindered adoption, but improved moisture and repaired systems have prompted Showa and her project team to gauge demand for these traditional products on and off the reservation and among tourists. Studies will evaluate potential income from the products, based on farmer production costs, and how costs might change if producers had access to a community kitchen for processing. Success not only would improve income and provide employment, it would also help bring nutritionally and culturally appropriate food to the Navajo people and reinforce the wisdom of traditional values and culture.
Project Title: Ganado Farm Board Agricultural Marketing Study
Project Number: FW04-113 (Farmer/Rancher grant with marketing emphasis)
Amount Funded: $15,000
Project Coordinator Teresa Showa, Ganado Farm Board, Ganado, AZ (928)
755-5927
Technical Advisor: Robert McKusick, President, Northwest Economic
Associates, Vancouver, WA (360) 883-0191, mckusick@nwecon.com
A pilot project for a zero discharge farming
Alan Haight of Riverhill Farm, located in the Sierra Nevada foothills, wants to stem loss of nutrients and sediment from his organic farm. His project will monitor storm water as it enters and leaves the farm to determine how much sediment and nutrients are lost. He will use those results to design a plan to reduce and control the losses. The plan will likely include recommendations on the timing of planting, composition of cover crops, planting grass filter belts, building vegetation-lined ditches to control runoff and filter sediment, constructing sediment-catching ponds and using rice straw and other natural materials to slow runoff and catch sediment. The plan will also assess Riverhill Farm’s organic fertilizer program and the use and timing of applications.
Project Title: Pilot Monitoring Project for a Zero Discharge Farm
Project Number: FW04-024 (Farmer/Rancher grant)
Amount Funded: $6,500
Project Coordinator Alan Haight, Riverhill Farm, Nevada City, CA (530)
263-1886, afarmer@saber.net
Technical Advisor: Roger Ingram, University of California Extension
Farm Advisor, Auburn, CA (530) 889-7385, rsingram@ucdavis.edu
Little sheep tackle big problem
As vineyards and orchards are converted to sustainable, organic production, finding cost-efficient methods for managing weeds and grasses between rows becomes critical. This SARE-funded project will use a breed of miniature sheep called Olde English Babydoll Southdowns to graze in organic vineyards and orchards. Grower Deborah Walton will assess the sheep’s effectiveness compared with more labor-intensive organic weed and grass management methods like flaming and cultivating. Olde English Babydoll Southdowns are an ancient breed of miniature sheep that stand only 24 inches high at the shoulder, so they can graze grasses and weeds without being able to reach appropriately trellised grapevines or orchard fruit. The sheep, in turn, will add value through manure, wool and agri-tourism.
Project Title: Organic Vineyard/Orchard Weed and Grass Management
Using Miniature Sheep
Project Number: FW04-028 (Farmer/Rancher grant)
Amount Funded: $7,472
Project Coordinator Deborah Walton, Petaluma, CA (707) 766-6100, info@canvasranch.com
Technical Advisor: Laura Mendes, Director of Sustainable Agriculture
Program, Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, CA (707) 527-4649,
lmendes@santarosa.edu
Promoting local support for local production
Developing innovative marketing practices can be one of the most challenging aspects of farming today, especially for small growers. To address the weakness, this project will embark on a consumer marketing campaign to encourage local shoppers to buy from local farmers and ranchers. The project team will run newspaper and radio ads that highlight local producers and their products. The ads will explain how to identify locally produced foods and offer reasons why shoppers may want to pay a few cents more to buy them. Fact sheets distributed at large chain and independent grocery stores will educate shoppers, and participants will try to persuade grocers to stock more locally produced foods. A “buy local” logo will help shoppers identify products. After 12 months, a survey will gauge shopper awareness of the campaign, changed buying behavior and logo recognition.
Project Title: Marketing Locally Grown
Project Number: FW04-111 (Farmer/Rancher grant with marketing emphasis)
Amount Funded: $10,000
Project Coordinator Mary Ann Vasconcellos, San Luis Obispo, CA (805)
595-9653, mavasc@aol.com
Technical Advisor: Jeff Rodriguez, USDA-NRCS, Morrow Bay, CA (805)
772-5623, jeff.rodriguez@ca.usda.gov
Stronger producers may squelch development thirst
Development pressure in Placer County, California’s fastest growing, threatens agricultural land. What’s more, few new residents are connected to the land and the local food system. This project will work with Placer County’s more than 800 small producers (99 acres or fewer) to identify and cultivate new markets and promote their products as having superior flavor and freshness. Two grassroots organizations, PlacerGROWN and the Foothill Farmers Market Association, will work in cooperation with producers. Molly Johnson, PlacerGROWN program manager, will poll producers to inventory what is being produced in the county and survey consumers about what they want to buy. In addition, the project team will generate a list of new marketing opportunities, showcase innovative and successful marketing ideas at a farm conference and coordinate farmer-to-farmer networking meetings to promote relationships and collaboration.
Project Title: Fresh, From Our Family to Yours: Direct Marketing
Education for Producers
Project Number: SW04-058 (Research and Education grant)
Amount Funded: $98,395
Principle Investigator: Molly Johnson, PlacerGROWN Program Manager,
Auburn, CA (530) 889-7398, molly_johnson@sbcglobal.net
Lengthening land tenure to secure sustainability
In California, farmland values continue to rise as the number of farmers, especially young ones, continues to fall. This project seeks to help farmers and ranchers, including beginning farmers, secure long-term tenure on the land, the contention being that a longer commitment engenders greater sustainability than year-to-year agreements. The project team will research and summarize alternative land tenure models for producers, looking at the role of public agencies to lease out agricultural lands, and will analyze whether policies from other parts of the country can apply to land tenure in California. The research will be compiled in a models handbook that address such issues as cash rent leases from private, government and nonprofit entities; intergenerational transfers using installment sales, lease options and gifting; community land trust and land pooling; long-term and inheritable leases; and various ownership options, including cooperative ownership.
Project Title: Farm Tenure: A Tool Kit
Project Number: SW04-121 (Research and Education grant)
Amount Funded: $103,130
Principle Investigator: Steve Schwartz, Executive Director, California
FarmLink, Sebastopol, CA (707) 829-1691, steve@californiafarmlink.org
Transition to organic for California dairies
Growing consumer demand for organically produced foods has stimulated interest among dairy operators in making the transition to pasture-based organic dairying. To address interest expressed in a survey of Northern California dairy producers, the project team plans to provide producers with science-based information they need to manage a dairy herd organically and to help them network with technical specialists and other producers. The project will include three workshops. The first will focus on health and veterinary practices that reduce dependence on medications like antibiotics and parasiticides. The second will address nutritional management in the organic herd, including assessing forage value of pastures, selecting organic feed supplements and proper nutrition for herd health. The third workshop will discuss organic pasture management topics such as biodiversity, rotation grazing and organic soil fertility.
Project Title: Educational Workshops on Organic Dairy Management
Project Number: SW04-127 (Research and Education grant)
Amount Funded: $39,377
Principle Investigator: Annie Eicher, Organic Farming Program Coordinator,
University of California Cooperative Extension, Eureka, CA (707) 445-7351,
aleicher@ucdavis.edu
The nutritional values of grass-fed beef
To capitalize on the current popularity of “all natural grass-fed beef,” this Western SARE project will provide producers and university extension personnel with training and education on the potential health benefits of grass-fed products. In her proposal, Cynthia Daley of the University of California at Chico notes that the window of opportunity for small and mid-size ranching families may close without specific information to support the healthful aspects of grass-fed products and without a marketing plan. Using the grant, grass-fed beef products will be analyzed as to their healthful attributes, with reports to producers. Workshops will be held in which producers will learn about interpreting the data and how to use it on labels and other materials to promote the products to consumers. The data will be posted on a Web site, www.csuchico.edu/agr/grsfdbef/ and producers will be provided with one-to-one assistance.
Project Title: Adding Value to Grass-fed Beef Niche Marketing Efforts
Project Number: EW04-012 (Professional Development Program grant)
Amount Funded: $60,000
Project Contact: Cynthia Daley, Associate Professor, Animal Biotechnology,
California State University, Chico, CA (530) 898-6280, cdaley@csuchico.edu
Numerous pressures, including drought, long distances to markets and competition from corporate organic farms, are prompting many small farmers to leave the business. To counter the trend, two producer groups in Colorado and northern New Mexico have formed an alliance to develop a common set of production standards and marketing strategies that reflect their regional agricultural methods, cultural values and geography. Their standards will focus on soil management, fertility and food-handling with an oversight mechanism to assure member producer compliance. The project team plans to label their food products with a common label for regionwide brand recognition, capitalizing on their ecological production methods and efforts to provide premium, nutritious foods. Ultimately, the two groups hope to invite other producer groups in the region to participate in the program.
Project Title: Common Standards and Labeling
Project Number: FW04-112 (Farmer/Rancher grant with marketing emphasis)
Amount Funded: $13,500
Project Coordinator Dan Hobbs, Tres Rios Agricultural Cooperative
Inc., Denver, CO (303) 316-0401, bobosos@aol.com
Technical Advisor: Frank Stonaker, Colorado State University Specialty
Crops Program Coordinator, Fort Collins, CO (970) 491-7068, frankstonaker@colostate.edu
Making the switch to animal-harvested forages
Western beef producers typically generate narrow profit margins, and studies show that those who keep their feed costs low are often the most successful. To that end, many are switching from harvested crops like alfalfa, grass hay and corn to irrigated, cool season forages for grazing and hay. Pastures can reduce feeding costs, simplify some management decision and enhance marketing options. However, switching to pastures can raise new challenges. This project will try to help ranchers switching to irrigated forages achieve increased success. Five ranchers with experience using irrigated forages will share their success and failures with agricultural professionals, who will document these tips and concerns and track the producers’ hay yields, grazing times, forage quality and cattle productivity. Information gathered will be shared with other producers through field days, an irrigated pasture workshop and the media.
Project Title: Using Irrigated Forage Pastures to Enhance Livestock
Production Sustainability
Project Number: FW04-318 (Ag Professional + Producer grant)
Amount Funded: $13,555 Ag Professionals: Gene Schmitz and Bruce Bosley,
Area Extension Agents; Schmitz, Wray, CO (970) 332-4151, gschmitz@coop.ext.colostate.edu;
Bosley, Sterling, CO (970) 522-3200, dbbosley@coop.ext.colostate.edu
Producer: Ken Amen, Iliff, CO (970) 522-8211, aaf@kci.net
Natural restoration of activity-scarred landscapes
The 1.5 million acre Uncompahgre Plateau in western Colorado bears the scars of 120 years of human activity, including grazing, recreation, logging, fire suppression and road construction. This Western SARE project will use a community-based, collaborative process to try to understand the impacts of human activity and to begin the process of restoration in a way that involves and serves the interests of local communities. Team members plan to educate agricultural producers on the plateau how to grow, harvest and market native plant seed species, including grasses, forbs and shrubs, for which there is a growing demand. Ten species have been selected for testing by five cooperating producers, who will help researchers assess irrigation, pest and weed control and species adaptability. Information on successful species and practices will then be transferred to other producers in the region.
Project Title: Native Seed Production for Crop Diversification
Project Number: SW04-087 (Research and Education grant)
Amount Funded: $171,121
Principle Investigator: Ron Godin, Colorado State University Agronomist/Research
Scientist, Hotchkiss, CO (970) 872-3387, rgodin@lamar.colostate.edu
The economic underpinning for many of Guam’s communities comprises tourists from Asia. Antoinette Okada proposes to tap into this market by growing and selling flowers for use in arrangements of cut flowers and for use in hand-crafted leis. She notes that hotels, restaurants, conference rooms and businesses display floral arrangements using tropical flowers. Few are native to Guam, with most shipped from Hawaii, but all can be grown locally. Likewise, leis, typically given in love and friendship at celebrations and in greetings, can be made from locally grown flowers. Okada plans to conduct a survey to assess the demand for cut flowers and to hold lei-making classes. Success with the project will show local producers, women in particular, that they can be financially self-sufficient by entering the market for flowers and leis.
Project Title: Lei Making and Marketing – A New Approach to Marketing
Project Number: FW04-104 (Farmer/Rancher grant with marketing emphasis)
Amount Awarded: $6,750
Project Coordinator Antoinette Okada, Dededo, GU (671) 632-0665, aokada4@hotmail.com
Technical Advisor: Frank Cruz, University of Guam Extension Agent,
Mangilao, GU (671) 735-2091, malak@guam.net
Using plant umbrellas to lengthen the season
Guam and a large part of the Pacific Island nations basically have two seasons – wet and dry – which limits production of much needed plants. Only a few crops can tolerate the plant pathogens, insects and excessive moisture of the rainy season. In this project, four farmers will test greenhouse film stretched across rows of crops to act as a rain barrier, a method used in many Asian countries to control moisture and limit insects and diseases. The goal is to grow cucumbers, watermelons, cantaloupe, eggplant, pepper, tomatoes and beans, the production of which is typically crippled by heavy rain. The practice should also reduce the volume of pesticides farmers use to counter the pests. Because many of the farms sit over the island’s water lens, the reduction in pesticide use should reduce chemicals that might enter the aquifer.
Project Title: Greenhouse Water Barrier
Project Number: FW04-302 (Ag Professional + Producer grant)
Amount Funded: $10,871
Ag Professional: Pete Terlane, Guam Department of Agriculture Agricultural
Specialist II, Mangilao, Guam (671) 637-0592 peterlage@yahoo.com
Producers: Ernie Wusstig, Berrigada, GU (671) 637-0592 (Enrique Guerrero,
Juan Bernardo and Donald Wen)
This SARE project intends to convert fish offal from a fish-processing operation into marketable products including fertilizer, compost, fish and animal feed and chum for commercial fishers. The 30 or so Big Island aquaculture operations, which produce freshwater tilapia and catfish and offshore Pacific threadfin in cages, typically import their feed. The feed created from offal will help reduce that reliance. In addition, the offal will be converted into compost and fertilizer that can be used on coffee and banana farms. The fish-processing operation will benefit by reducing labor costs and the tipping fee to dump the offal at the Hawaii County solid waste facility, and the farmer conducting the SARE project, Takumi Shirakawa, will benefit from using the offal as compost and fertilizer.
Project Title: Conversion of Fish Processing Waste to Fish/Animal
Feed, Chum and Fertilizer
Project Number: FW04-011 (Farmer/Rancher grant)
Amount Funded: $6,695
Project Coordinator Takumi Shirakawa, Shirakawa Farm, Naalehu, HI
(808) 929-7462, shirak@hialoha.net
Technical Advisor: James Szyper, University of Hawaii Agriculture
Specialist, Hilo, HI 96720, (808) 929-7462, jszyper@hawaii.edu
Blocking banana bunchy top
A disease accidentally introduced into Hawaii in 1987 has curtailed banana production on Oahu, Maui and Kauai. Banana bunchy top disease, the most serious viral threat to banana production in Hawaii, also occurs on the Big Island, but an eradication effort and constant monitoring have kept it isolated. Banana bunchy top is spread naturally by an efficient vector, the banana aphid, as well as to suckers through the rhizome. Infected plants fail to produce fruit. The project team in this Western SARE grant will gather basic information on banana bunchy top in Hawaii, including the disease’s incubation period and the timing of plant and aphid infection. Mapping the disease and its spread will help the team test management practices for control or eradication, critical to the health of Hawaii’s $10.6 million banana industry and its 200 farms.
Project Title: Management of banana bunchy top in Hawaii
Project Number: SW04-064 (Research and Education grant)
Amount Funded: $90,458
Principle Investigator: Rodrigo Almeida, University of Hawaii Assistant
Professor, Department of Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences,
Honolulu, HI (808) 956-6741, ralmeida@hawaii.edu
Organic farmer Bridget Betta Bunzel plans to develop computer software that aids in the design of farmers’ annual plots. Appropriate decision-making during the design phase, with the assistance of computer-generated maps and record keeping, can streamline multiple farming tasks. The software will be developed to find optimal designs using genetic algorithms, which simulate the process of biological evolution to find optimal solutions to problems from a vast number of solutions. Genetic algorithms, which are relatively new in software, evolve slowly toward solutions rather than testing every possible solution. To test the usefulness of the software, Benzel Organics will design annual farming plots as usual then repeat the process using the software, comparing the two designs and improving the software where appropriate. Once developed, the software will be provided free to reach the maximum number of users.
Project Title: Optimizing Spatial & Temporal Aspects of Designs for
Small-Scale Diverse Farms
Project Number: FW04-203 (Farmer/Rancher grant with organic emphasis)
Amount Funded: $5,500
Project Coordinator Bridget Betta Bunzel, Bunzel Organics, Genesee,
ID (208) 475-7246, betta@genesee-id.com
Technical Advisor: Margaret Ely, East Bay Regional Park District Botanic
Garden Plant Ecologist, Berkeley, CA (510) 548-7333, mpely@lmi.net
Righting the range with Internet education
Rangelands encompass more than half of all Western land, and many forces threaten their ecological integrity and the communities that rely on them. Such threats require increased understanding of innovative, sustainable management practices. Yet shrinking budgets are crippling training efforts for university extension educators and others. This Western SARE project will build on the existing Western Rangelands Partnership, which is harnessing the power of the Internet to develop a Web gateway for Western states to compile information and links on rangelands in their respective states as part of the Agriculture Network Information Center initiative, known as AgNIC. The grant will provide workshops to help state participants develop, upgrade and maintain their Web portals. Rangelands specialists, advisors and practitioners who participate will gain the skills needed to access, evaluate and create Web-based information, providing an electronic body of rangeland information to train and educate a multitude of users.
Project Title: Building Knowledge of Sustainable Rangeland Management
Using Information Technology
Project Number: EW04-014 (Professional Development Program grant)
Amount Funded: $91,886
Project Contact: Karen Launchbaugh, University of Idaho Rangeland
Ecology and Management Department, Moscow, ID (208) 885-4394, klaunchb@uidaho.edu
In Yap, one of four states comprising the Federated States of Micronesia, fish comprise the major source of meat. Most are caught by the family members for family consumption. This project will introduce the concepts of aquaculture as a way to teach people about raising fish. Steven Young-Uhk, marine resources extension agent, will provide know-how and producer Louis Bumoon will provide land on which they’ll construct a demonstration fishpond, 75 by 125 feet and 3 feet deep. A concrete gate will be installed to allow for the exchange of water between tides with a wire mesh placed at the gate to keep the 1,875 stocked milkfish from escaping. Milkfish can be used for food or bait. Given the low popularity of milkfish for food among people on Yap, the fish in this project will be grown for frozen bait.
Project Title: Lamer Fishpond Pilot Test & Demonstration
Project Number: FW04-311 (Ag Professional + Producer grant)
Amount Funded: $6,572
Ag Professional: Steven Young-Uhk, Marine Resources Extension Agent,
Colonia, Yap, FSM (691) 350-4319, marineyap@mail.fm
Producer: Louis Bumoon, Yap, FSM, (691) 350-2180
Forage for winter grazing is typically scarce and low in nutrient content, prompting livestock producers in Montana and the West to rely on harvested and stored forages for winter feed. To remedy the situation – worsened by several years of drought – project coordinator Jim Seitz plans to plant forage kochia, a non-weedy species adapted to areas of the West with a wide range of soils and 6 to 16 inches of precipitation. The project will plant forage kochia on salty and non-salty sites on rangeland at the Seitz Ranch near Acton, Mont., and the Dailey Ranch near Jordan, Mont., to test the potential to turn drought-stressed, salt-affected, unproductive pastures into valuable assets for a winter grazing program. Success will increase grazing options and reduce feed costs for the winter.
Project Title: Forage Kochia as a Winter Feed Option on Salt-Affected
Sites
Project Number: FW04-004 (Farmer/Rancher grant)
Amount Funded: $3,740
Project Coordinator Jim Seitz, Seitz Ranch, Molt, MT (406) 652-2226,
jim@ecbarranch.com
Technical Advisor: Paul Dixon, Montana State University Extension
Agent, Yellowstone County, (406) 256-2828, pdixon@montana.edu
Smoothing the transition from hay to grain
Agricultural producers must periodically renovate hay and grasslands to improve production, provide weed control and restructure flood irrigation ditches. However, rotating from hayfields to small grains induces economic burdens from loss of hay production, heavy spring workload, the need for additional machinery and nitrate accumulation in the small grains. Project coordinator George Reich plans to test two types of winter wheat that will yield either as hay or grain for harvest. Success with the winter wheat varieties, from the Montana State University Experiment Station, will give producers an option for hay and grassland renovation that has several benefits over the spring forage barleys typically planted, including potentially higher yields and more efficient use of labor and equipment.
Project Title: Forage Winter Wheat Production for Hay or Grain in
Gallatin County, Montana
Project Number: FW04-018 (Farmer/Rancher grant)
Amount Funded: $5,370
Project Coordinator George Reich, Willow Creek, MT (406) 285-6675,
reichbros@theglobal.net
Technical Advisor: Ron Carlstrom, Montana State University Gallatin
County Extension Agent, Bozeman, MT (406) 582-3273, carlstrom@montana.edu
Preserving ag land in the scenic West
As with many of the West’s scenic mountain valleys, Ravalli County is attracting new residents, often putting upward pressure on land prices and challenging agricultural viability. This project is designed to increase the options for farm and ranch families to protect farm and ranch lands and the farm businesses working them. The project team will develop leadership among members of the Ravalli County Right to Farm and Ranch Committee. In a travel-study program, committee members will visit four southern Montana counties to see how each is dealing with farm loss and changing land uses. The project will also foster a farm family forum to analyze and discuss alternatives for estate planning or linking buyers and sellers. And they’ll encourage community support for agriculture by educating producers and residents alike about purchase of development rights, conservation easements and ag district formation.
Project Title: Preserving Farms and Ranches
Project Number: FW04-313 (Ag Professional + Producer grant)
Amount Funded: $5,000
Ag Professional: Robert “Rob” Johnson, Montana State University Extension
Agent, Bozeman, MT (406) 375-6245, ACXRJ@montana.edu
Producer: Dan Huls, Corvallis, MT (406) 961-3779, danhuls@bitterroot.net
A hot idea for managing small-dairy manure
This project will harness new technology to test a reliable, cost effective and simplified anaerobic digester that can convert dairy manure into useable energy. The technology currently used in most anaerobic digesters in the United States, Plug Flow Reactor, is economically marginal for smaller dairy operations, requiring around 20 days to convert manure into methane. Principle investigator Blair Stringham will test anaerobic digester technology developed at Utah State University called the Induced Blanket Reactor, which can convert dairy waste into biogas in three to six days. Methane generated in the digestion process will be used to produce energy for the project dairy in Churchill, Mont. Success with this project will show other small dairies that they have an alternative management method for their manure that can provide an economic return.
Project Title: Methane Recovery from Small Dairy Operations
Project Number: SW04-007 (Research and Education grant)
Amount Funded: $123,834
Principle Investigator: Blair Stringham, Montana State University
Assistant Professor, Ag Operations Technology, Bozeman, MT (406) 994-5778,
blairs@montana.edu
Teaching teachers about alternative marketing
Expertise in alternative marketing techniques for agricultural producers continues to expand in the Four Corners states. But few field agents from ag-support entities feel qualified in marketing knowledge, especially alternative marketing. This project aims to educate field agents to better understand alternative marketing, especially as it relates to the needs of minority and small-scale producers. Building on the already-established Southwest Marketing Network, the project team will conduct an annual conference to increase the agents’ knowledge of alternative marketing, build capacity to respond to inquiries and establish working relationships among agents, specialists and producers. The team plans to select 40 field agents, 16 subject area specialists and 12 producer-marketers from the Four Corners states with the idea of covering the greatest diversity of expertise, geography, ethnicity and production.
Project Title: Increasing the Effectiveness of Field Agent Response
to Producer Requests for Alternative Marketing Assistance
Project Number: EW04-006 (Professional Development Program grant)
Amount Funded: $95,939
Project Contact: Teresa Maurer, National Center for Appropriate Technology,
Fayetteville, AR (479) 442-9824, teresam@ncat.org
To help replenish the shortage of native seed for revegetation projects and provide farmers with a water-thrifty alternative crop, this project will test ways to establish a native forb for seed production. Edith Isidoro-Mills will compare direct seeding of Penstemon speciosus with use of transplants started in a greenhouse to see which method works better for establishing a stand and producing seed. The idea for using transplants was gleaned from California strawberry producers. Though costly, this labor-intensive method may prove effective for penstemon seed, which typically retails for between $36 and $260 a pound, depending on species, compared with alfalfa seed, for example, which retails for between $2.30 and $3.50 a pound. Isidoro-Mills plans to share what she learns with the newly established Nevada Wildland Seed Producers Association.
Project Title: Penstemon Seed Production and Stand Establishment
Project Number: FW04-031 (Farmer/Rancher grant)
Amount Funded: $2,100
Project Coordinator Edith Isidoro-Mills, Fallon, NV (775) 867-3191,
eaim@phonewave.net
Technical Advisor: Jay Davison, University of Nevada Churchill County
Extension Agent, Fallon, NV (775) 423-5121, Davisonj@unce.unr.edu
Four-legged weed whackers tackle noxious invaders
Noxious weeds rank as one of the most serious environmental and economic threats in the Western United. Yet many of the methods to control them, like herbicides and prescribed fires, are becoming increasingly restricted. Livestock grazing has proved to be an effective weed management tool, but such techniques have yet to be summarized into a useful format. This Western SARE project will assemble, summarize and distribute information on livestock grazing as a tool to combat noxious weeds. It will create a handbook, in binder and CD format, that will use text and color photos to describe the most prevalent noxious weeds in the West and the protocol for effectively grazing them. Fifteen hundred copies will be produced for free distribution to every Cooperative Extension and Natural Resources Conservation Service office in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
Project Title: Developing a Handbook for Utilizing Livestock as a
Tool in Noxious Weed Control in Nine Western States
Project Number: EW04-004 (Professional Development Program grant)
Amount Funded: $90,133
Project Contact: Jason Davison, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension,
Fallon, NV (775) 423-5121, davisonj@unce.unr.edu
A 2003 survey by the Southwest Marketing Network to determine marketing needs of producers found that they gained most from field days and conferences. But few were able to attend because they could not afford travel and conference expenses nor to take time away from their businesses and families. This SARE project will attempt to overcome these obstacles by providing producers with easy-to-use, low cost distance learning technologies, either through live broadcasts or information archived on the Web and inexpensive CDs. Among projects planned for distance learning are the Pueblo of San Felipe Farm Service Program, which is reawakening a return to traditional food sustainability and healthful living; cost effective hoop houses for year round, value added production; innovative and cooperative ways to produce, process and market lambs; and the Navajo Agricultural Technology Empowerment Center, a traditional agricultural training and farm revitalization project.
Project Title: Southwest Marketing Network: Expanding Markets for
Small-Scale Alternative and Minority Farmers and Ranchers
Project Number: SW04-144 (Research and Education grant)
Amount Funded: $124,817
Principle Investigator: Pamela Roy, Co-Director, Farm to Table Inc.,
Santa Fe, NM (505) 473-1004, pamelaroy@aol.com
Since 1998, Felix Mendiola has been growing medicinal plants, primarily tacca, known locally as gapgap or Polynesian arrowroot. From 90 tubers obtained in the wild, his crop now covers a full acre with 30,000 plants. Tacca, rich in natural starch, was traditionally cultivated in small farm plots or village gardens for medicinal uses and consumption. But it has been replaced with imported rice and flour. Over-harvest has reduced wild populations and increased the price of tacca starch to an average of $100 a pound, too expensive for food use. Mendiola plans to create a cooperative learning experience and to lure other local farmers into cultivating tacca to increase production and bring down the price, making it affordable for consumers in the Mariana Islands chain. The tacca, which likes shade, will be planted with papaya.
Project Title: The Further Development of Organic Systems for the
Production and Multiplication of the Polynesian Arrowroot and Other
Medicinal Plants in the CNMI
Project Number: FW04-206 (Farmer/Rancher grant with organic emphasis)
Amount Funded: $7,500
Project Coordinator Felix Mendiola, Rota Island, CNMI (670) 532-0615,
winniemendiola@hotmail.com
Technical Advisor: Mark Bonin, Northern Mariana College Tropical Horticulturist,
Rota MP (670) 532-9511, markb@vzpacifica.net
This project is designed to address water quality, soil erosion and weed problems along seasonal drainage ditches in commercial grass fields in Oregon’s Upper Willamette Valley. It seeks to determine the most economical and efficient methods of stabilizing ditch banks to protect against erosion during heavy rains, at the same suppressing weeds without chemicals. The Western SARE funding continues an experiment begun in fall 2002 in which the ditch bank was graded and hydro-seeded with mulch, polyacrilimide and grass seed, and erosion-control fabric was staked along the bottom and sides. Early results indicate the technique succeeded, and this project will verify whether it can work on a larger scale along 1,200 feet of a high-flow, winter drainage ditch that is currently eroding.
Project Title: Sustainable Ditch Stabilization
Project Number: FW04-004 (Farmer/Rancher grant)
Amount Funded: $4,246
Project Coordinator James VanLeeuwen, Halsey, OR (541) 369-2992, JVL2992@hotmail.com
Technical Advisor: Michael Fery, Lin SWCD Watershed Technical Specialist,
Tangent, OR (541) 967-5925, ext. 117, michael-fery@or.nacdnet.org
Mobile livestock processor increases producer options
This project will assess the feasibility and organizational structure of a USDA mobile slaughtering unit and USDA fabrication facilities in eastern Oregon. USDA certification is currently unavailable in the area, and consumers increasingly want meat that can be identified with a producer. Slaughtering livestock at a producer’s operation reduces transportation costs and animal stress and provides a better quality meat for grocery stores, restaurants and home use. It also allows the producer to custom pack meat tailored to end user desires. Many Oregon livestock operations are small or medium in size, and it’s difficult for them to sustain commodity market fluctuations. Selling directly to consumers will help them achieve a balanced, more certain price, cultivating economic sustainability.
Project Title: Eastern Oregon USDA Mobile Slaughter/Fabrication Project
Project Number: FW04-008 (Farmer/Rancher grant)
Amount Funded: $6,500
Project Coordinator Dick Field, Prairie City, OR (541) 820-4430, dfield@ortelco.net
Technical Advisor: Gary Delaney, Grant County Extension Agent, Canyon
City, OR (541) 575-1911, gary.delaney@orst.edu
Improving resources with rotational grazing
This project will explore the concept of split-season rotational grazing, comparing that system with conventional rotational grazing. The split-season grazing will take place on a cattle ranch where pastures are a mixture of cool-season grasses (fescue, orchardgrass, clover and timothy). The test will involve four sets of calves with average weights of 500 pounds. The control group will graze the irrigated pastures in a conventional rotation system for the full season of 180 days. The other three sets will graze 60 days each in consecutive periods that parallel the control group. Project coordinator Robert Lozano hopes to show that any increased labor in moving and shipping calves after only 60 days will be offset by increased profits and healthier pastures.
Project Title: Split-Season Rotation Grazing Study
Project Number: FW04-017 (Farmer/Rancher grant)
Amount Funded: $6,647
Project Coordinator Robert Lozano, Butte Falls, OR (541) 865-3421,
lozano@cdsnet.net
Technical Advisor: George (Randy) White, Oregon State University Extension
Agent, Central Point, OR (541) 776-7371, white.r@orst.edu
Integrating wood and wool
The project seeks to combine wood and livestock production in short-rotation hybrid poplar plantations. Traditionally, such plantations are managed at high density rates of 600 to 900 trees per acre on rotations of five to eight years to produce biomass for energy or wood chips for making pulp. GreenWood Resources has switched to lower density rates of around 300 trees per acre and rotations of 10 to 15 years. Fewer trees increases light available to produce quality forage. Greenwood plans to look at ways of pasturing sheep in the plantations from planting through two to four years in a way that provides good forage and limits tree damage. Not only will the project produce wool and wood from the same land, it will integrate nutrient cycling and safeguard soil and water quality compared with open pastures.
Project Title: Silvo-Pasture with Hybrid Poplar and Sheep
Project Number: FW04-019 (Farmer/Rancher grant)
Amount Funded: $7,053
Project Coordinator
Producer: Richard Shuren, GreenWood Resources, Clatskanie, OR (503)
728-2171, rshuren@greenwoodresources.com
Technical Advisor: Brian Stanton, Managing Director, Tree Farm Operations,
GreenWood Resources, Portland, OR (503) 572-9804, bstanton@greenwoodresources.com
Recycled crates could improve swine productivity
This project will test individual swine feeding stalls made from recycled gestation crates for use in group-housed sow operations. Each gestation crate comes with a waterer, feed trough and rear door. By feeding sows in individual stalls, feed intake can be adjusted according to each sow’s needs to optimize body condition and eliminate waste feed. Fetal loss, which can occur when sows fight at feeding time, should be greatly reduced, and the opportunity for artificial insemination enhanced. Recycling used gestation crates also saves on nonrenewable resources. The reduced costs and improved profits of such a system, says producer Deanna Quan, could make this a more appealing choice over factory farms with their confined facilities and waste lagoons.
Project Title: Recycle Used Gestation Crates into Group-Housed Sow
Feeding Stalls
Project Number: FW04-021 (Farmer/Rancher grant)
Amount Funded: $6,300
Project Coordinator Deanna Quan, Dayton, OR (503) 864-3273, qbarfarm@viclink.com
Technical Advisor: Gene Pirelli, Oregon State University Extension,
Dallas, OR (503) 623-8395, gene.pirelli@oregonstate.edu
Removing the host for Christmas tree Scrooge
Annosus root rot is threatening the sustained production of Noble Fir Christmas trees in the Pacific Northwest, reducing yields by as much as 40% on second and third Noble Fir rotations. Removing stumps and roots of harvested trees can halt the disease cycle because the pathogen cannot survive without the woody host. Jim Puffer of Yule Tree Farms will use his Western SARE grant to compare the traditional excavation method for removing stumps and roots with two different types of stump grinding. The information will allow Christmas tree producers to make educated decisions on which method of removal works best for their farms and potentially provide them with integrated, biological approaches to sustain production of Noble Fir Christmas trees.
Project Title: Effectiveness of Three Methods of Removing Stumps
to Control Annosus Root Rot in Christmas Tree Plantations
Project Number: FW04-026 (Farmer/Rancher grant)
Amount Funded: $5,130
Project Coordinator Jim Puffer, Yule Tree Farms, Aurora, OR (503)
651-2114, Mcnabb@yuletreefarm.com
Technical Advisor: Gary Chastagner, Washington State University Professor
of Plant Pathology, Puyallup, WA (253) 445-4528, chastag@wsu.edu
The great pumpkin seed fights pasture parasite
The abundant rain and sun that nourish pasture grasses also help parasites flourish, placing grazing animals under continual assault from internal parasites. To combat the parasites, sheep producers rotate their animals through pastures and use chemical dewormers, or anthelmintics. These are costly and time consuming to administer, and, because of long use, the parasites’ resistance has increased. Indeed, many anthelmintics no longer work and as many as 60% of common parasites have developed resistance. The producers in this project will test pumpkin and squash seeds as a natural anthelmintic. They hope to confirm studies in Russia, China and New Zealand that have shown that an amino acid unique to pumpkin and squash seeds, cucurbitin, may have anthelmintic properties by causing paralysis in the parasites.
Project Title: Pumpkin Seed as a Natural Alternative to Chemical
Dewormers in Sheep
Project Number: FW04-027 (Farmer/Rancher grant)
Amount Funded: $14,990 Project Coordinator/Producers: Alice Royle,
Brownsville, OR (541) 466-5571, royles@dswebnet.com; Mac Stewart and
Margaret Magruder, Magruder Farms, Clatskanie, OR (503) 728-2945,
magruder@clatskanie.com; Tom Nichols, OSU Sheep Center, Corvallis,
OR (541) 737-2903, Thomas.Nichols@oregonstate.edu
Technical Advisor: James Thompson, Oregon State University Extension
Sheep Specialist, Corvallis, OR (541) 737-1908, James.Thompson@oregonstate.edu
A year-round market to fill winter’s void
Producers in this group project want to create a viable year-round market to fill the winter void in the farmers’ market season in the Portland area. They plan to build and expand on existing producer expertise and the strong base of consumer and community support for current seasonal markets. The project team in the trial market will disseminate information to producers on buying, storing and preparing winter vegetables. Participating producers, in turn, will communicate information about the year-round market to customers who frequent their seasonal markets and inform them about the broad range of local products that will be available during the winter months. If successful, the project will enhance the economic viability of farming in the Willamette Valley by providing farm-direct marketing opportunities in the winter and sustaining local producers and their laborers.
Project Title: Hillsdale Winter Harvest Farmers Market
Project Number: FW04-108 (Farmer/Rancher grant with marketing emphasis)
Amount Funded: $14,950
Project Coordinators: Aaron Bolster and Kimberly Moore, Deep Roots
Farm, Albany, OR (541) 917-8944, deeproot@peak.org
Technical Advisor: Larry Lev, University of Oregon Associate Professor
and Extension Economist, Corvallis, OR (541) 737-1417, larry.lev@oregonstate.edu
A virtual marketplace for natural beef
Painted Hills Natural Beef, which produces and markets natural beef products, wants to economize on its marketing resources by creating a “Virtual Focus Group” through its Web site. Painted Hills processes about 200 cattle a week with no added hormones or antibiotics from 13 rancher owners and 35 other ranchers, all of whom adhere to a production protocol for which they receive a premium. The virtual focus group will ask meat managers of grocery stores who sell Painted Hills beef to share their knowledge, opinions and experience through a password-protected portion of the Web site. This is a cost-effective way to elicit information from meat managers, who are the driving force behind sales in terms of educating consumers and purchasing Painted Hills beef, which is sold on “story line,” not price. Their responses will be compiled to formulate marketing strategies.
Project Title: Virtual Focus Group to Measure Most Efficient Use
of Marketing Resources
Project Number: FW04-118 (Farmer/Rancher grant with marketing emphasis)
Amount Funded: $6,863
Project Coordinator Mehrten Homer, Painted Hills Natural Beef Inc.,
Fossil, OR (541) 763-2333, melanie@natural-beef.com
Technical Advisor: Will Homer, Wheeler County Soil & Water Conservation
District Riparian Buffer Specialist, Fossil, OR (541) 468-2990, Will-Homer@or.nacdnet.org
Untangling the cobweb of environmental rules
The mission of this project is to help livestock producers understand their role related to the ever-changing environmental regulations that impact agriculture, especially involving water quality. Among these are confined feeding animals operation rules, agricultural water quality management plans and total maximum daily load regulations. Noting that many producers feel overwhelmed and confused by the often complicated regulations, the project team will develop links between government agencies and producers. A user-friendly kit on water quality regulations that apply to livestock producers will be published through a diverse committee of private and government representatives. Inspectors for the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s confined animal feeding operations will work with producers to help them understand and resolve potential problems. And 15 workshops in 2004 will educate producers about water quality regulations that affect them.
Project Title: Sustainable Ranching Program
Project Number: FW04-317 (Ag Professional + Producer grant)
Amount Funded: $13,352
Ag Professional: Pat Larson, Science Advisor Oregon Cattlemen’s Association,
LeGrande, OR (541) 963-9387, thermochick@oregontrail.net
Producer: Sharon Livingston, Long Creek, OR (541) 421-5276, bar96@oregontrail.net
Light-touch tillage on vegetable acres
Oregon vegetable growers currently practice conservation tillage on 2,500 acres. Reducing tillage can improve net return by as much as $50 an acre through savings in labor and energy and increased crop yields. It also can improve soil quality and reduce erosion and groundwater contamination from leaching of nitrates. The Western SARE project team plans to increase the adoption of conservation tillage by 35 new farmers on 9,000 acres of vegetable crops by 2007. To achieve its goals, the team will conduct experiments on farms of cooperating members of the Willamette Valley Farm Improvement Association to assess mixtures of several cover crops, which are critical in conservation tillage systems. It will test three types of conservation tillage methods, strip tillage, ridge tillage and strip spading using a power spader, comparing them with conventional tillage.
Project Title: Managing Cover Crop and Conservation Tillage Systems
to Enhance Vegetable Crop Yields, Economic Returns and Environmental
Quality
Project Number: SW04-072 (Research and Education grant)
Amount Funded: $182,438
Principle Investigator: John Luna, Oregon State University Department
of Horticulture, Corvallis, OR (541) 737-5430, lunaj@oregonstate.edu
To stem the spread of noxious weeds, particularly Russian knapweed, project coordinator Kyle Christensen proposes to show how weed-eating goats and reseeding can refurbish infested ranchette, farm and grazing land. The Sanpitch Cooperative Weed Management Area (CWMA), funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, has selected the Hide Away Valley of central Utah to conduct a weed-control demonstration using chemicals, insects and reseeding. Christensen says several landowners have expressed concern about the CWMA’s use of chemicals, prompting him to tackle a 5-acre infested plot using 20 head of goats to beat down and weaken the Russian knapweed, followed by reseeding with desirable grasses and plants to compete with the weakened weeds. If successful, he hopes to contract with local landowners to provide biological weed control, which will bolster income from his turkey operation.
Project Title: Goats as a Weed Control Alternative in Small Acreage
Ranchettes
Project Number: FW04-014 (Farmer/Rancher grant)
Amount Funded: $3,382
Project Coordinator Kyle Christensen, Moroni, UT (435) 445-3390, uturkey@juno.com
Technical Advisor: Craig Poulsen, Utah State University Sanpete County
Extension Agent, Ephraim, UT (435) 283-5648, craigp@ext.usu.edu
A shady way to tackle tomato curly top
The curly top virus, transmitted by leafhoppers, has devastated tomato crops across Utah, Arizona and Nevada. Organic farmer Aviva Maller reported losing 90% of her tomato crop to curly top. Responding to reports that leafhoppers abhor shade, Maller will use her SARE grant to test plastic mulch and shade covers as organic control methods. She will cover one of her four 100-foot-long tomato beds with black mulch and two with different colored plastic mulches, leaving one uncovered against which to measure success. As plants mature, she will test shade covers, built using PVC pipe draped with fabric. She’ll leave 10 feet of each 100-foot row uncovered for comparison. Success with this low-cost approach will provide organic control of leafhoppers and the curly top disease they vector as well as test the value of mulches on crop productivity.
Project Title: Tomato Disease Prevention and Production Enhancement
Project Number: FW04-037 (Farmer/Rancher grant)
Amount Funded: $2,095
Project Coordinator Aviva Maller, Springdale, UT (435) 772-0793, mtnsugarpine@hotmail.com
Technical Advisor: Rick Heflebower, Utah State University Extension
Agent, Horticulture, St. George, UT (435) 652-5815, rickh@ext.usu.edu
Testing a feisty option for fire-scarred lands
On arid rangelands of the Intermountain West, cheatgrass has frequently displaced perennial shrubs, reducing soil stability, increasing wildfire hazard, reducing wildlife habitat and reducing forage for livestock. The project will assess the nutritional values for livestock of perennial forage kochia, a plant native to grazed rangelands of central Eurasia that adapts well to Western rangelands. Forage kochia is different from weedy kochia. It does not invade perennial plant communities, but competes well against annual noxious weeds like cheatgrass and halogeton. Evidence has shown that grazing forage kochia can reduce winter feeding costs and increase the sustainability of livestock production. In addition to its potential nutritional value for livestock, forage kochia, planted in green strips, has been shown to stop wildfires and is often the only plant that can be established in areas dominated by cheatgrass and scorched by wildfires.
Project Title: Perennial Forage Kochia for Improved Sustainability
of Grass-Dominated Ecosystems
Project Number: SW04-060 (Research and Education grant)
Amount Funded: $149,503
Principle Investigator: Kenneth Olson, Utah State University Associate
Professor and Grazing Livestock Nutritionist, Logan, UT (435) 797-3788,
ken.olson@usu.edu
Distributing the results of rangeland demonstrations
In Utah, the Legislature and the Natural Resources Conservation Service have made $146,000 in grants to the ranching community for range demonstration projects. Over the past four years, 25 livestock producers and several government and private agencies have leveraged these funds to initiate 33 projects worth more than a quarter million dollars. This Western SARE project will distribute the results of these projects through a report and CD so that ranchers and professionals in Utah and the Intermountain region can put them to use, especially critical during the recent drought. Projects have focused on subjects like weed and brush control, forage and plant variety trials and riparian improvements. Evaluation has ranged from the use of photographs to satellite imagery. And some projects have used new equipment and technology, while others tried simple changes in grazing management.
Project Title: Communication of Range Demonstration Project Results
Changes in Grazing Management.
Project Number: EW04-010 (Professional Development Program grant)
Amount Funded: $15,045
Project Contact: Ken Mills, Utah Association of Conservation Districts,
Ogden, UT (801) 393-3830, ken-mills@utnadcnet.org
10-state network will expand knowledge of animal behavior
Critics often blame livestock and ranching for degradation of rangeland and riparian ecosystems, suggesting that nothing short of fencing of waterways or outright removal of livestock can solve the problem. For two decades, members of a consortium known as BEHAVE (Behavioral Education for Human, Animal, Vegetation and Ecosystem Management) have demonstrated that livestock behavior can be modified and managed to enhance and maintain biodiversity, restore lands dominated by invasive species and increase productivity and profitability of rangeland-based businesses. This proposal will expand the network of ag professionals trained in behavioral principles. University extension collaborators in 10 Western states have agreed to be trained in behavioral principles. In turn, each will train 10 others who can help train other facilitators to work with producers and agency staff to share information and strategies on behavioral management. The Western program will be a model for an eventual national program.
Project Title: BEHAVE Facilitator’s Network
Project Number: EW04-016 (Professional Development Program grant)
Amount Funded: $99,702
Project Contact: Fred Provenza, Utah State University Range Scientist,
Logan, UT (435) 797-1604, stan@cc.usu.edu
This project seeks to educate high school students on Lopez Island – where most food consumed by the 3,000 residents must take the 50-minute ferry ride from the mainland – about the principles of ecological food production. Project coordinator Henning Sehmsdorf and Jennifer McFarland, the high school math and science teacher, will teach a four-month elective class at Sehmsdorf’s S&S Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Homestead Farm, a half mile from the school. The goals are to teach the students how to produce nutritious vegetables year round using low-cost, environmentally friendly techniques; develop school menus with the school chef that use island produce year round and to teach students how to prepare the food; and to provide the students with hands-on learning in ag science for credit.
Project Title: Agricultural Science Class: Principles of Ecological
Food Production
Project Number: FW04-006 (Farmer/Rancher grant)
Amount Funded: $7,441
Project Coordinator Henning Sehmsdorf, S&S Center for Sustainable
Agriculture and Homestead Farm, Lopez Island, WA (360) 468-3335, sshomestead@rockisland.com
Technical Advisor: Carol Miles, Washington State University Agricultural
Systems Specialist, Vancouver, WA (360)576-6030, milesc@wsu.edu
Chicken to go
The producers in this group project plan to assess the feasibility of a mobile poultry processing unit. Such a unit would be licensed and would comply with applicable local, state and federal regulations. The poultry processing unit would be moveable, self-contained and automated so it could visit farms to process the birds. The study, done by mail and interviews, will determine producer interest and their willingness to commit financially to developing a mobile unit. It will also assess the costs of such a unit, whether grocer, restaurateur and consumer demand would warrant its development and whether its use and sales from processed birds would provide an economic boon to producers. Project participants anticipate that such a unit would increase flexibility, reduce transportation costs and foster a connection between consumers and producers through direct marketing.
Project Title: Mobile Poultry Processing Feasibility Study
Project Number: FW04-040 (Farmer/Rancher grant)
Amount Funded: $9,637
Project Coordinator Louis Sukovaty, Crown “S” Ranch, Winthrop, WA,
(509) 996-3849, sukoargr@methow.com
Technical Advisor: Jay Jenkins, Washington State University Extension
Faculty and County Chair, Okanogan, WA (509) 422-7245, Jay_Jenkins@wsu.edu
Soothing prosthetic discomfort with felted wool
This project seeks to develop a market for felt pads made from wool to provide comfort for people with braces and artificial limbs. Sheep producers have experienced shrinking wool prices in recent years, with shearing costs often exceeding sales revenues. Wool is a breathable, washable product that, when felted and cut into appropriately sized pieces, can provide comfort between prosthetic devices and braces and a wearer’s skin. The trial marketing will be conducted through Schindler’s Inc., a national orthotic and prosthetic service company with a branch in Spokane. Producer Jayne Deardorff plans to develop a manual and hold workshops to teach producers about product specifications and to coordinate with Schindler’s to fine-tune the steps producers must take to develop appropriate products for the company.
Project Title: Felted Wool for Orthopic Use
Project Number: FW04-105 (Farmer/Rancher grant with marketing emphasis)
Amount Funded: $10,382
Project Coordinator Jayne Deardorff, Colville, WA (509) 684-5623,
me2@theoffice.net
Technical Advisor: Al Kowitz, Washington State University Extension
Stevens County Chairman, Colville, WA (509) 684-9790, akowitz@wsu.edu
Presenting the power of pears
Pears have been cultivated for more than 4,000 years, yet consumers still know little about this nutritious fruit. Only 20% of consumers purchase pears. In the United States, 84% of pears are grown in Oregon and Washington. The farmers in this SARE-funded project want to increase consumption by educating consumers about the taste, versatility and health and weight loss benefits of pears. Their educational campaign will involve repetitive tasting demonstrations three times a year through outlets of a major grocery chain store, WINCO, in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada and California. Pear farmers will hand out recipes and brochures with health and fitness information and answer consumer questions about pears and pear farming. The project will track pear sales before and after demonstrations, assess consumer satisfaction and measure the cumulative impact of the promotions.
Project Title: Producer, Retail, Consumer Demo Program for Fresh
Pears
Project Number: FW04-116 (Farmer/Rancher grant with marketing emphasis)
Amount Funded: $14,907
Project Coordinator Sherry Amos, Wapato, WA (503) 390-3078, amossherry@msn.com
Technical Advisor: Jerry Gardner, Oregon Department of Agriculture
Business Development Manager, Portland, OR (503) 872-6600, jgardner@oda.state.or.us
Pumping up soils on Lopez Island
The number of small farms on Lopez Island has increased in response to a desire for local food security. Many farmers raise grass-fed livestock, increasing the demand for farm-produced hay and forage. To compensate for the low availability of nutrients in the island’s acidic soils, farmers periodically apply lime, which is expensive to transport and apply and oxidizes organic matter. Lopez Island farmer Henning Sehmsdorf has applied compost and mulch to heal acid soil, but his supplies of those materials are limited. In this project, Sehmsdorf will team with Washington State University agronomist Steve Fransen to test whether biological stimulant materials can be created on the farm as economically and ecologically viable alternatives to liming. They will compare liming, biological stimulants and no treatment on a 1-acre plot, assessing the effects on soil characteristics and forage yield and quality.
Project Title: Bio-Intensive Forage and Hay Production
Project Number: FW04-305 (Ag Professional + Producer grant)
Amount Funded: $7,499
Ag Professional: Steve Fransen, Washington State University Forage
and Extension Agronomist, Prosser, WA (509) 786-9266, fransen@wsu.edu
Producer: Henning Sehmsdorf, S&S Center for Sustainable Agriculture
and Homestead Farm, Lopez Island, WA (360) 468-3335, sshomestead@rockisland.com
Underground plot against potato pests
Two beetles, the Colorado potato beetle and wireworms, have devastating impacts on Washington’s $450 million potato industry. The Colorado potato beetle can defoliate plants, destroying a crop, while wireworms damage tubers in the ground. Conventional growers rely on broad-spectrum insecticides, but organic potato growers, who have increased acres from 200 in the early 1990s to several thousand acres today, have few control options. Both beetles spend a big chunk of their life cycles underground, and researchers and producers in this project plan to capitalize on that to examine the effects of beneficial soil-dwelling nematodes and fungi as beetle biological control agents. The project team will also examine the effects of a mustard cover crop on both beneficial and pest insects as well as the combined effects of the nematodes, fungi and cover crops.
Project Title: Augmentation and Conservation of Insect-Attacking
Nematodes and Fungi to Improve Insect Control in Pacific Northwest
Potatoes
Project Number: SW04-113 (Research and Education grant)
Amount Funded: $138,922
Principle Investigator: William Snyder, Washington State University
Department of Entomology, Pullman, WA (509) 335-3724, wesnyder@wsu.edu
Cultivating the organic seed market
Despite the continued growth in organic agriculture, the availability of organically grown seed has been limited because few seed companies have experience with organic production and few organic farmers have the skills to grow quality seed. To strengthen this weak link in organics, the project team plans to teach methods of producing organic seed to producers in Idaho, Oregon and Washington. The audience includes about 60 current organic seed growers as well conventional producers seeking potentially lucrative markets or interested in entering the seed production business. Seed production methods will be passed along to interested growers during field days. An early summer field day will focus on things like spacing, irrigation, fertility, diseases and crop selection. A late summer field day will discuss plant maturity, rouging, harvest, cleaning, conditioning and analysis of yield and quality.
Project Title: Producing Organic Vegetable Seed – Farmer Education
Project
Project Number: SW04-115 (Research and Education grant)
Amount Funded: $154,293
Principle Investigator: Matthew Dillon, Executive Director for Organic
Seed Alliance, Port Townsend, WA (360) 385-7192, matthew@seedalliance.org
A ‘rosy’ outlook for fruit-attacking leafrollers
Planting rose gardens near apple, pear and cherry orchards may help growers reduce pesticides and still fight crop-damaging leafroller insects. This SARE-funded project will teach fruit growers how to position, plant and maintain gardens for maximum benefit. Underlying the project is the discovery of a parasite of leafrollers in central Washington that had been introduced from Europe to Canada in the late 1960s. This parasite, however, was minimally effective because its normal leafroller hosts overwinter as small larvae, insufficient for the parasite’s winter survival. However, a third insect, the strawberry leafroller that feeds on a wild multi-floral rose, does serve as a host, providing the missing link in the parasitoid’s seasonal biology. Indeed, experimental rose patches planted near orchards increased springtime parasitism of leafroller pests from less than 10% to more than 90%.
Project Title: Rose Habitats to Enhance Leafroller Biological Control
in Pome Fruits
Project Number: SW04-136 (Research and Education grant)
Amount Funded: $105,149
Principle Investigator: Thomas Unruh, Research Entomologist, USDA-ARS,
Wapato, WA (509) 454-6563, unruh@yarl.ars.usda.gov
Hands-on training in farm-to-table marketing
Small-acreage producers who forge direct links with consumers are faced with both production and direct marketing challenges. University extension faculty and other ag-support professionals typically understand the production challenges, but rarely have the experience to understand the day-to-day challenges faced by farmers forging connections with the community that buys their products and benefits from their stewardship. Rick and Lora Lea Misterly founded the Quillisascut Farm School of Domestic Arts in Rice, Wash., to train chefs untutored in the field-to-table cycle. In similar fashion, this Western SARE grant will bring 24 ag professionals to Quillisascut Farm to learn about day-to-day challenges and to meet and discuss issues with a diverse cross-section of area farmers. A video and publication will be produced on the four-day immersion experience, and participants will be queried a year hence to determine the impact on their educational programming.
Project Title: Sustainable Small Acreage Farming from Field to Table
Project Number: EW04-015 (Professional Development Program grant)
Amount Funded: $57,220
Project Contact: Albert Kowitz, Washington State University Stevens
County Extension Chairman, Colville, WA (509) 684-2588, akowitz@wsu.edu
This project will look for ways to measure lamb production based on economic benefits rather than just on growth factors. Project participants include five owners and breeders of registered and commercial breeding stock and one commercial producer who will supply ewes. They will build their “economic index” for superior sires by assessing carcass traits, growth, feed efficiency and health factors in lambs produced from mating six rams to 100 ewes. The rams were the top performers in a 60-day test conducted in the summer of 2003 at the University of Wyoming and co-sponsored by the Wyoming Wool Growers Association and Mountain States Lamb Cooperative. The study will also gauge methods to identify progeny lambs using retinal imaging technology along with electronic identification.
Project Title: Progeny Evaluation to Determine an Economically Based
Index for Sire Selection
Project Number: FW04-030 (Farmer/Rancher grant)
Amount Funded: $7,500
Project Coordinator Sandra Snider, Powell, WY (307) 754-0220, sswyosheep@aol.com
Technical Advisors: Gary Moss and Robert Stobart, University of Wyoming
Animal Science Department, Laramie, WY (307) 766-5212, gm@uwyo.edu
and bstobart@uwyo.edu
Electronic approach to Western cow-calf management
Wyoming’s rural economy relies heavily on the sustainability of cow-calf producers, many of whom operate ever-narrowing profit margins. Dallas Mount wants to help smaller, family-operated ranches improve record keeping using computer technology, which, in turn, will help them make better informed, economically sound management decisions. Several computer-based record management options are available, says Mount, but none are specific to the needs of Western livestock operations. Mount plans to develop an inexpensive, easy-to-understand and highly flexible database, available to all Wyoming producers, to encourage record keeping and information use. An advisory group of producers and university experts will oversee development of a Web-interactive database that can be used by producers even with minimal computer experience. The software will include both production and economic data, so the producer can manage both the herd and the bottom line.
Project Title: Record Management Computer Database for Wyoming Cow-Calf
Producers
Project Number: SW04-051 (Research and Education grant)
Amount Funded: $18,563
Principle Investigator: Dallas Mount, University of Wyoming Extension
Educator, Wheatland, WY (307) 322-3667, dmount@uwyo.edu
