Commodities

The Performance of Cover Crops in Minimally Tilled Forage-based Grazing Systems

In a Southern SARE-funded Graduate Student Grant (GS15-152), “Evaluation of Winter Annual Cover Crops Under Multiple Residue Management: Impacts on land management, soil water depletion, and cash crop productivity,” Texas Tech University researchers investigated five cover crops species as potential complements to a warm-season beef-stocker grazing system. The impact of the project was two-fold: Stabilize the soil surface from excessive wind erosion and desiccation; and strengthen rural communities by ensuring the persistence of profitable agriculture in the region.

Integrating Legumes with Grass to Improve Forage-Livestock Systems

In a Southern SARE-funded Research and Education Grant (LS14-261), "Long-term Agroecosystems Research and Adoption in the Texas Southern High Plains -- Phase III," Texas Tech University researchers conducted a steer grazing trial comparing a grass only system to a grass-legume system for animal productivity and water use efficiency.

Improving Pawpaw Production with Grafting

FRANKFORT, Kentucky – Kentucky State University researchers, through a grafting technique common in apple production, have been successful in producing higher-yielding, higher-quality fruit in pawpaws. The results help promote a low-input system to boost small-scale pawpaw production for small farmers. Through a $203,395 Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Grant, horticulturist Kirk Pomper and his […]

Using Multispectral Imaging Technologies to Maximize Yields in Sugarcane

HOUMA, Louisiana – When it comes to profitable sugarcane, the goal of every grower is to achieve the highest possible sucrose yield at the lowest production cost possible. Sugarcane yields correlate with nitrogen application, and as producers continue to get squeezed between decreasing acreage and higher input costs, such as fertilization, they are looking for […]

Searching for New Strategies to Control Gastrointestinal Parasites in Small Ruminants

PROSPECT, Tennessee – Jo Ann Harris calls out to a flock of Dorper sheep in a pasture:  “Sheeep. C’mere sheep.” Almost immediately the animals come running to her side, head bumping her leg and begging for a head scratch before moving on to the food pellets Harris has laid out for them in containers. With […]

Sustainably Knocking Out Pests and Increasing Fruit Production and Quality of Primocane Blackberries

SEARCY, Arkansas – Primocane blackberries, which can extend the fruiting season by months over traditional plant varieties, are changing the way farmers are growing berries. But they don’t come without their pest and production challenges, which University of Arkansas researchers are trying to solve with a naturally occurring soil mineral. Through a Southern Sustainable Agriculture […]

In Drought-stricken Texas, Researchers are Finding Water Conservation Solutions in Cover Crops

LUBBOCK, Texas – In the Texas High Plains, a region where the water-depleting Ogallala Aquifer endangers productive agriculture, and hot, arid winds erode soils and rob them of nutrients, cover crops offer a useful option to livestock producers. In a two-year graduate student study at Texas Tech University, funded through the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research […]

Georgia Farmer Exploring the Use of Compost Tea to Control Southern Stem Blight

DECATUR, Georgia – When summer temperatures rise and moisture increases in the Southeast, so does Southern stem blight – a hard-to-control fungal disease that can quickly turn your healthy, productive tomatoes, squash or peppers into wilting, decaying plants. Southern stem blight is a nightmare for small-scale vegetable producers, especially those who follow organic practices and […]

Cover Crops Have Benefits in High Tunnels

GLENWOOD, Georgia – Barley and hairy vetch growing vigorously in a high tunnel at Lola’s Organic Farm in southeast Georgia were going to seed. It was mid-April. Time to mow and prepare the soil for the summer’s cash crops: ginger and turmeric. Since last year, couple Jennifer Taylor and Ron Gilmore – USDA certified organic […]

Adding Flowering Plants to Strawberry Fields to Enhance Pest Management and Biodiversity

WIMAUMA, Florida -- Over the last few years, Florida strawberry growers have been faced with declining market prices, increased global competition, and suspected and documented cases of insecticide resistance. In addition, growing concerns for overall environmental health have increased as we see trends of habitat loss and declining biodiversity, specifically of natural enemies and pollinators. […]

Artificial Nesting Sites Attract Native Pollinators

LAWRENCEVILLE, Georgia – Artificial nesting sites for pollinators placed in apple orchards have shown to boost native bee populations, according to results of a Georgia Gwinnett College study. In a Southern SARE-funded On-Farm Research Grant project, researchers focused on nesting sites for mason bees and mining bees – the workhorses of the native bee world […]

NCSU Explores Regionally Adapted Legumes as Forage and Cover Crops

RALEIGH, North Carolina – North Carolina State University researchers are working to expand the portfolio of crops farmers can use in grain, forage and cover crop production. Through a Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SSARE) Graduate Student grant, student Rachel Atwell Vann and organic cropping specialist Chris Reberg-Horton field tested 19 winter pea (Pisum […]

Get the Most Out of Forage Systems for Goats with Sunn Hemp

TUSKEGEE, Alabama – Small ruminant producers in the Southeast can potentially graze their goats year-round on a forage-based production system by incorporating a summer legume, such as sunn hemp, into the traditional bermudagrass pasture. Tuskegee University animal scientist Byeng-ryel Min found that a summer sunn hemp/bermudagrass forage mixture, or sunn hemp alone, followed by winter […]

Texas Producer Finds Asparagus Can Be Viable in the South Nearly Year-Round

LYFORD, Texas -- A south Texas producer, interested in increasing the diversity of crop production for local farmers, has found that asparagus can be grown in the Texas heat practically year-round by mimicking the “die-back” that occurs in the plants during dormancy in colder climates. With a Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SSARE) Producer […]

Innovations in Large-Scale Trap Cropping for Reducing Insect Pests

Trap cropping is a unique pest prevention system that uses insect behavior to deter pest feeding. Benefits of trap cropping not only include effective pest management, but trap crops can also increase biodiversity, conserve natural enemies and reduce wind damage to main crops.

Fewer Greenhouse Gases Released When Cattle Graze on Legume-rich Grass Pastures Compared to Nitrogen Fertilized Pastures

GAINESVILLE, Florida – Beef cattle that graze on legume-enriched grass pastures release fewer greenhouse gases compared with the typical nitrogen fertilization regimes in the Southeastern U.S., based on the limited results of a Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SSARE)-funded study at University of Florida. The results offer a sustainable grazing management alternative for those […]

NCSU Researchers Develop Protocol for Measuring Food Waste on the Farm

RALEIGH, North Carolina – A North Carolina State University study quantifying food waste on the farm seems to suggest that the amount of edible and marketable vegetable crops being left in the field after primary harvest is much higher than previously thought. In a Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SSARE) Graduate Student Grant, researchers […]

Sun-Baked Virginia Farm Blooms Under a Berm and Swale Permaculture System

KENBRIDGE, Virginia -- It’s 90 degrees, but feels like 105 on the empty white road cutting across Virginia’s flat, coastal plains. There hasn’t been rain in a month and the fields of corn clicking past are curled to grey spikes. The soil between the rows looks like powdered rust. But it’s here, hidden behind pine […]

Hiding in Plain Sight

MCMINVILLE, Tennessee – Winter cover crops, specifically a ryegrass/crimson clover mix, appear to protect susceptible deciduous trees from the flatheaded appletree borer, while also effectively managing weeds, according to results of a Tennessee State University study. The results could be useful for orchards, nurseries, urban landscapes and agroforestry producers in managing the significant economic pest. […]

Getting a Glimpse of Sustainable Agriculture in Tennessee

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Sustainable agriculture is growing in Tennessee and members of the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SSARE) program got a glimpse recently of the innovations, research, and marketing and productions methods driving that growth. Nearly 50 SSARE staff, members of the Administrative Council, and state ag coordinators were treated to a daylong […]