USA

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in partnership with universities, non-governmental organizations, farmers and ranchers, and other government agencies.

Since 1988, USDA's Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program has funded more than 1,400 grant projects that increase scientific understanding and promote practical uses of sustainable agriculture. SARE helps improve farm profitability, protect natural resources and foster viable rural communities through competitive grants administered in four regions of the country, through a unique structure in which farmers, ranchers, NGO representatives, scientists and other citizens serve on regional administrative councils that set program policy and select projects for funding. Funding, determined annually by the Congress, has been steady in recent years at US$11,309 million annually.

Sustainable agriculture

Three examples illustrate impacts of SARE projects:

(1) Hog producers seeking to cut production costs or increase value through marketing can benefit from SARE research in Iowa and Minnesota. In Iowa, researchers investigating the applicability of a Swedish deep-bedding system for hogs were buoyed by the interest of more than 3,500 visitors. Rather than raising hogs in single crates on mesh flooring above a manure pit, heating, housing and antibiotic costs were reduced by using intensive management, simply constructed houses and cornstalk bedding. The bedding absorbs manure, allows for rooting and supplies a high-fibre diet supplement. Grouping sows and piglets throughout gestation, birth and lactation in a hooped structure and a more sheltered building causes less animal stress, resulting in fewer infections and allowing sows to conceive more easily and piglets to grow faster. In Minnesota, a new hog producer cooperative funded by SARE is building a local processing plant, the first step to direct-marketing their meat. About 80 members who raise their pigs without antibiotics or hormones expect to improve profits when the co-op sells to a chain of national health food stores, Twin Cities-area supermarkets and over the Internet.

(2) Farmers in the Appalachian region of Virginia and Tennessee have benefited from new marketing opportunities created by a coalition working to improve quality of life in the traditionally poor, underemployed region. Aided by a SARE grant, Appalachian Sustainable Development (ASD) members have convinced an area grocery store chain to carry locally grown organic produce, boosted direct-to-restaurant sales of vegetables and landed a value-added pepper product in an upscale national kitchen catalogue. With ASD's help, farmers are forming community-supported agriculture enterprises that gain consumer investment at the start of a growing season in exchange for supplies of fresh produce. A new commercial kitchen in Sneedville, Tennessee, should help others create value-added farm products such as herbal soaps and garlic jellies. Finally, an on-farm research and demonstration project shows producers ways to avoid tomato blight and raise livestock on pasture.

(3) Wine grape growers can get a leg up on the competition if they use cover crops, according to SARE-funded research in California's San Joaquin and Napa valleys that shows growing covers between vine rows improves grape quality. Cover crops improve grape sugar content, researchers theorize, by regulating water infiltration. While growers need to irrigate more with cover crops, such covers as the oats, rye, vetch, red clover and sub clovers used in the experiment help water penetrate to improve the plants water use efficiency. In addition, savings from reduced pesticide, herbicide and fertilizer inputs offset irrigation costs. The project found cover crops and cover crop mulches suppress weeds; in some plots, researchers measured a 40- to 50- percent reduction in pesticide use thanks to cover crops. The findings could prove significant for growers of California's leading crop, the $1.7-billion grape industry. Vinery owners have invited researchers to speak to their growers about the benefits of cover crops, particularly regarding fruit quality, and are urging them to incorporate covers into their farming systems.

Jill Auburn, National Director,
Fax (202) 720 5203, (202) 720 6071,
Email: jauburn@reeusda.gov

Valerie Berton, Communications Specialist,
Fax (301) 405 3186, (301) 314 7373,
Email: vberton@wam.umd.edu
Web site: http://www.sare.org