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SARE 2005 Highlights
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![rancher Agee Smith feeding his horses](images/horses_range_management.jpg) |
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Agee Smith, Wells, Nevada.
Photo by Mona Whalen |
Our cover photo of Agee Smith on his Elko, Nevada, ranch illustrates
some of the best of SARE-producer-led professional development featuring
state-of- the-art land stewardship and a profitable new venture.
Professional Development
SARE is committed to helping agricultural educators stay in step with
the latest, most innovative farming and ranching strategies through our
professional development program. Regional SARE competitive “PDP”
grants provide learning opportunities for ag professionals. Competitive
grants are complemented by state programs in which SARE coordinators keep
people in the know about SARE activities; promote dialog among land-grant
universities, NRCS, nonprofit organizations, and others; and refer people
to the best information sources in their state.
This dual strategy works. In recent surveys of extension educators in
the North Central and Western regions, a great majority of respondents
said they are interested in sustainable ag. Three-fourths of them have
led at least one educational program to share new innovations.
Range Management & Tourism
Some of those innovations take place in settings like Cottonwood Ranch,
our cover photo location. With 88 percent of Nevada owned by federal agencies,
most ranchers are trying to raise livestock amid a bevy of rules. When
public land managers asked the Smith family to cut their herd from 1,200
steers, forward- thinking Agee Smith immersed himself in Holistic Management™
training and emerged with a new plan to run 400 head on 35,000 acres.
To learn from Smith’s new system—grazing cattle in higher
densities but shorter duration through some 50 pasture areas—SARE
’s Nevada professional development program helped bring interested
parties, from the Bureau of Land Management to NRCS to Extension, to the
ranch.
In Nevada, Smith’s ranching practices became a professional development
tool. In fact, we pride ourselves on our producer-driven approach. SARE
involves farmers and ranchers in all aspects of the program, from grant
reviews to setting priorities. The Smiths take advantage of their picturesque
mountain location by running a successful guest ranch. They combine agriculture
and tourism as part of a new wave of entrepreneurs seeking to add value
to more traditional farms. Learn more about the Smiths in our upcoming
book, The New American Farmer: Profiles of Agricultural Innovation.
The book is one of many resources from the Sustainable Agriculture Network
(SAN), SARE’s national outreach arm. SAN interprets and delivers
cutting-edge SARE research results with books
and bulletins designed for producers, educators, and researchers.
Adding Value & Other Hot Topics
Both environmentally sound range management and agri-tourism are among
the of-the-moment topics in which SARE has invested through its grants.
Agri-tourism, along with local processing, direct marketing, organic farming,
and community agriculture, represent some of the new approaches that are
revving up profits for producers. All ways to “add value”
to farming, these technologies make up the primary focus of a large number
of SARE grants and are a component of scores of others. SARE ’s
great advantage comes in its ability—thanks to regional grant-making
councils who know the local issues—to fund forward-thinking research
and education subjects that keep producers on the cutting edge. See the
12 project summaries that follow to learn more about what we’re
funding now. What’s on the horizon? From bio-energy to food security
to new market value chains, stay tuned.
![](images/Jill_sig.gif)
SARE Director
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