Water Management

Southern SARE Awards $1M Grant to Explore Regenerative Agriculture

Griffin, GA- The Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program has announced a $1,000,000 Research and Education Grant, the largest awarded since the program launched in 1988.   The National Center for Appropriate Technology, the project lead, selected a systems research approach to identify practical and regionally-appropriate methods of regenerative grazing that can be implemented […]

Sweetpotato Production for Kentucky

This 16-page guidebook, produced by the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service, covers all aspects of sweetpotato production in Kentucky. Topics include variety selection, production techniques, insect and disease management, harvesting, storage, marketing, and budgets. Full of colorful photos and helpful charts, this publication is designed to be a comprehensive guide for […]

Mississippi Crop Farmers Using Irrigation Management Tools to Save Water While Staying Profitable

STONEVILLE, Mississippi – Will Hart, a young 30-something farmer who produces corn and soybeans on 3,000 acres in the Mississippi Delta, remembers the “old way” his grandfather determined whether the crops needed water. “We’d go out in the field and kick the dirt,” said Hart. “If it was dry, then the crops got water.” Today, […]

Mississippi State University Leading Efforts to Help Landowners Implement Conservation Practices on the Farm

STARKVILLE, Mississippi – Mississippi State University is leading by example when it comes to adopting and implementing conservation land practices. Leslie Burger, a conservation education specialist with the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture, along with Extension professor Beth Baker, are part of a large team of university scientists who are leading efforts to improve […]

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.

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 […]

Agriculture in U.S. Virgin Islands Challenging, But Prevailing with Sustainable Agriculture Practices

CHRISTIANSTED, St. Croix – For months, a 14,000-gallon water tank has been sitting on its side in the middle of Frederick Miller’s Moringa tree orchard. Winds from Hurricane Maria had rolled the tank down the hillside of his farm, and he still hasn’t figured out yet how he’s going to move it. Yvette and Dale […]

Cover Crops Do Not Deplete Stored Water in the Soil Profile, Clemson Researchers Find

CLEMSON, South Carolina – Among the myriad of benefits cover crops provide to a row crop or vegetable operation, Clemson University researchers have found another one: Cover crops do not deplete water stored in the soil profile, thus preserving the precious resource for the cash crop – an all important function, specifically in times of […]

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 […]

Sustainable Blackberries and Raspberries

A handbook to guide growers in sustainable practices of fruit production from production practices to business management to marketing, for high tunnel and field production.

Water Conservation in the Texas High Plains: A systems research model of sustainable agroecosystems

The objective of the initial SARE grant, (LS97-082), “Sustainable Crop/Livestock Systems in the Texas High Plains,” was simple: Demonstrate that farmers can save water through an alternative production approach to monoculture cotton.

Texas Alliance for Water Conservation: Farmers teaching farmers how to manage water like money

For over a decade, producers across the Texas High Plains have been educating other producers on production methods and new technologies that help save water.

Water Use of Old World Bluestems in the Texas High Plains: SARE research summary, 2001-2003

In a Southern SARE-funded Graduate Student Grant (GS02-012), “Optimizing Water Use for Three Old World Bluestems in the Texas High Plains,” Texas Tech University researchers evaluated three old world bluestem species under dryland, and low, medium and high irrigation levels to determine water use efficiency, yield and nutritive value over a three-year period.

Good Agricultural Practices

This guide from North Carolina State University provides growers with a framework for them to develop their own food safety plans.