Western SARE grants help achieve sustainable agricultural solutions
2022 Summerby Clayton Marlow, PhD,
who is a professor of Range Science at MSU and the Western SARE Coordinator
Montana producers have forged a close relationship with MSU Extension and the Agricultural Experiment Station to overcome challenges caused by drought, insect outbreaks, blizzards and market swings. While both institutions address producer needs, MSU Extension and Ag Experiment Station personnel stretch their time to devote it to evolving issues and trends. This means that some problems and challenges may not make the short list for the attention of researchers and outreach educators. But this doesn’t mean they have to wait until the problem is overwhelming.
The Western Sustainable Agriculture, Research and Education program (Western SARE) was established as one of four regions by Congress nearly 30 years ago to give farmers and ranchers a process parallel to efforts by Extension and Experiment Station specialists in identifying and developing sustainable agriculture solutions. Research and education activities crafted and carried out by producers expand the impact of Extension specialists and researchers and give greater access to sustainable agriculture and natural resource practices. To enable local producers to use creativity to craft innovative technologies and access outreach education, Western SARE provides funding through five competitive producer-focused award programs: Research and Education, Farmer/Rancher, Producer + Professional, Professional Development Program and Research to Grassroots. Awards can be for as long as three years and range in amount from $25,000 to $375,000. The two remaining programs, Sabbatical and Graduate Student, focus on faculty research.
BLACKFEET NATION’S AGRICULTURAL STRATEGIC PLAN
To supercharge efforts by tribal government to outline a strategy to direct the “utilization, protection, conservation and restoration of agricultural lands for the benefit of the Blackfeet people and future generations,” Loren BirdRattler secured a Professional Development Program (PDP) from Western SARE. This grant targeted increased professionalism of the current tribal workforce through classroom studies, field courses and attendance at professional conferences. The PDP grant supplied additional resources to develop an Extension-sponsored, train-the-trainer series about sustainable agriculture that would benefit the tribal agricultural resource management plan.
IMPROVING NUTRIENT USE EFFICIENCY IN MONTANA WHEAT
Wheat producer Curtis Hershberger had felt that he and neighbors “were losing nitrogen but just didn’t know how,” so he joined Montana Agricultural Experiment Station Scientist Rick Engel in an on-farm study funded through a Western SARE Research and Education grant. This collaborative effort identified several technologies, like applying nitrogen in the spring rather than on wet or frozen ground, that will save Montana wheat producers an estimated $5 million per year in improved nutrient efficiency.
GROWERS LEARN PHEROMONE-BASED MONITORING
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is gaining traction among producers as a means to enhance insect pest control without increasing the use of pesticides. While it has potential to work well on Montana croplands, agricultural professionals have limited knowledge about using insect pheromones in IPM monitoring programs. Two Montana Agricultural Experiment Station researchers, Gadi VP Reddy and Anamika Sharma, obtained a Western SARE Professional Development Program grant to enhance agriculture professionals’ knowledge and understanding on the role of pheromones in monitoring programs. The participants will subsequently have the ability to use and share the skills with farmers, expanding their sustainable management options. A 27-page manual explains how to use pheromone-based monitoring techniques to identify and eradicate pest populations before they become a serious threat. The manual was developed and distributed to over 50 agricultural professionals through mailings and field days. This environmentally-friendly technique requires the attention of regional growers encouraging a sustainable agriculture system. Reddy pointed out that with the Western SARE support “farmers are very interested now, and the ag professionals who have gone through the training are educating farmers in the practice.”
MAKING THE MOST OF FINE FLEECE
This Farmer/Rancher funded effort investigated environmental, economic and social costs and benefits of alternative strategies for direct local marketing of wool products. Alternative markets were identified as well as the formation of small-scale producer cooperatives, establishment of strategic breeding programs for healthier, more productive sheep and direct sales of grass-fed lambs. Interestingly, the sale of finished pelts from marketed lambs became a lucrative side market.
These abbreviated four projects illustrate that Western SARE is not a “one size fits all” USDA program, but strives to support promising projects from a broad suite of agriculture and conservation topics. In summary, two points can be emphasized, 1) funded projects are a collaboration between producers, educators and researchers and 2) all research and demonstration efforts generate as a final product an outreach effort like technical publications, field tours, podcasts and training curriculum.
To submit your challenges and ideas to become a part of SARE research and find solutions to make an impact on sustainable agriculture in Montana and the surrounding region, apply to one of the five Western SARE programs listed. Specific details, participants, amount of funding for each program, as well as the opening and closing dates for proposals can be found at western.sare.org. The closing date for 2022 proposals is in early November 2022.