Simply Sustainable

	Many beginning farmers, like Tony Daranyi, target food niches with innovative approaches. Cultivating Farmers Projects Lend Helping Hands to New and Small Producers Tony and Barclay Daranyi began farming in 2000 near Norwood in southwest Colorado, raising chickens on pasture, growing vegetables in hoop houses and baking bread they sell at a nearby resort (FW01-010). They try to learn about farming from others. “I don’t like to be the first person on the learning curve,” says Tony Daranyi. Several Western SARE grants focus on helping producers like the Daranyis climb the learning curve. Sue Donaldson, water quality specialist with the University of Nevada in Reno, notes that on the fringes of the West’s bulging cities, fresh landowners settling on retired agricultural land are rarely equipped as effective land stewards. Yet they hunger for guidance to do the right thing. To feed the appetite for these and other small landholders, Donaldson, working with specialists from California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington, developed training materials for ag professionals who work with owners of small acreage (EW99-003). To date, nearly 1,000 copies of the materials—15 PowerPoint lessons and an instructor’s guide—have been distributed to 34 states and Australia. New and small farmers are getting help to manage their land in ways that are productive and environmentally sound. In the Seattle area, in the wake of rapid urbanization and an aging farmer population, a new breed of farmer is succeeding on small tracts of land by selling directly to urban consumers. Few of these farmers grew up on farms or attended an agricultural university. To assist, Brad Goalach, a Washington extension educator, is developing a model program called “Cultivating Success” (SW03-016). It will train beginning and transition farmers in understanding the essentials of farm planning, production, stewardship and marketing. Cinda Williams of the University of Idaho notes that three-fourths of Washington farms and two-thirds of Idaho farms are classified as small—from 1 to 179 acres—and many new small farmers are emerging. Her project (EW03-009) is providing ag professionals with an easy-to-use curriculum to train and mentor small farmers, old and new. In Hawaii and the Pacific Islands, new farmers are cultivating former plantation land at a time when residents and chefs at local restaurants, hotels and resorts are demanding locally and sustainably grown vegetables, fruits and herbs. To help these farmers produce and market their crops, Samir El-Swaify of the University of Hawaii is developing a trainer workbook and CD, Web site and manual so ag professionals can educate new farmers (EW03-002). “We must focus on existing and developing technologies that enhance productivity and environmental quality as well as economic viability. In doing so, we must avoid excluding technologies considered to be controversial, such as biotechnology. The Hawaiians have a concept, ahapu`a`a, which means ‘from the mountain to the sea’ or, in Western terms, watershed, which they used to manage all aspects of their existence. We should view sustainability in a similar broad manner.” Mike Harrington, executive director, Western Association of Agricultural Experiment Station Directors, Fort Collins, Colorado Simply Sustainable Home Top