Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources

There is still a lot to know about organic farming practices and researchers at the Washington State University Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources are stepping in to help. CSANR has launched an comprehensive organic farming research program, which supports the expansion of crop production research and conducts economic and market research of organic foods. Some of the research being conducted includes organic seed production (an important element for developing crop varieties through plant breeding that are adapted to the organic production systems in which they’ll be grown), improving seed protection techniques to provide better health to the seed, creating more vigorous seedlings with better stress tolerance, and last but not least, organic weed control and soil fertility methods for annual crops and perennials. All three of these reasons are important in developing an organic seed network that is responsive to growers needs and will ultimately produce seed of crop varieties that are superior in performance to their conventional counterparts in organic production systems.

In addition, CSANR is currently conducting Biologically Intensive and Organic Agricultural research. BIOAg Program is looking into substituting mustard cover crops for fumigation. This method (sometimes referred to as “green manure”) involves growing any plant as a monoculture (one crop type grown together) or polyculture (multiple crop types grown together) to provide organic matter to the soil, help bring nutrients to the surface of the soil, and make nitrogen in the air available to garden plants. Not to mention, it can potentially help save farmers $47 - $85 per acre. Other developments underway are new applications of direct seeding to reduce erosion and actually using roundworms as pest control. BIOAg promotes strong ties between sustainable agriculture, communities and human nutrition, with the goal of promoting access to fresh, healthful Washington-grown food.

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"Farm to Fork initiative" & "Grow It, Eat It" Campaign

How would you build local food economies? In North Carolina, about 400 individuals committed to the cause came together at the Farm to Fork Summit at North Carolina State University last spring to ask the question as they develop a state action plan. When Extension interviewed citizens in 2008 about what they needed, local food was a key issue for the community. In addition, researchers responded to this need by pledging support for a Web site that would help producers and consumers with production, marketing and access to local foods.

A similar campaign designed by the University of Maryland Extension’s (UME) titled “Grow It Eat It”, helps Marylanders improve their health and save money by growing fresh vegetables, fruits, and herbs using sustainable practices. Jon Traunfeld, director of UME’s Home and Garden Information Center (HGIC) and state coordinator of the Maryland Master Gardeners Program says that eventually, they would like to see one million Maryland food gardeners producing their own affordable, healthy food. A Grow It, Eat It Web site is packed with basic food gardening information that people want. And current gardening happenings around Maryland are posted by contributors to the Grow It, Eat It blog.

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A class project has evolved into a campus fixture at West Virginia University , raising awareness on textile recycling and providing drop-off locations in the process. Tracy Vash, visiting assistant professor of fashion design and merchandising in WVU’s Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design, launched The A-WEAR-ness Campaign for the homeless in 2005. In it, her students led a clothes collection campaign and the collected items were then donated to an area charity for the homeless. Usable items were distributed to the charity’s clients, while the remainder was sold for recycling with proceeds benefiting programs for the needy.

The tremendous success of the campaign has led to the installation of permanent textile and apparel recycling bins on campus. Accepted donations include clothing, shoes, belts, purses, stuffed toys, bed linens, towels, and other textile related products. To date, 82,000 pounds of textile goods have been collected and either distributed to the needy or recycled into post-consumer product. For more information on apparel recycling at WVU, visit http://www.design.wvu.edu/apparel_recycling.

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Organic agriculture is burgeoning in the United States, as consumer interest grows and new organic production and marketing systems evolve. Scientists and educators in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks and the Oregon State University are stepping up to provide the needed knowledge and expertise.

One of Penn State’s sustainable projects takes place in Smethport, PA., a city that is looking to be the first in the nation to use a local renewable fuel source to become energy efficient. Penn State Cooperative Extension and researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences are working on a project titled Reinventing Smethport , which will promote sustainable energy by harvesting low-value trees in hardwood-producing areas of Pennsylvania and combining it with the latest woody-biomass energy technology. This will result in clean-burning fuel for local communities while boosting the local economy.

The average size of an Alaska farm has been decreasing, while the number of farms has gone up. Community Supported Agriculture farms, typically very small, have sprouted up near every urban area and even in some remote locations. The UAF School of Natural Resources & Agricultural Sciences and the Alaska Agricultural & Forestry Experiment Station have been providing science-based agricultural research and are working to facilitate a CSA network in Alaska. In addition, the school is helping incubate other agricultural niches in peony, reindeer , controlled environment and compost production.

In Oregon, over 7,500 individuals have participated in workshops, and over one million browsers have visited Oregon State University‘s Sustainable Living Web site. This site can help families conduct a sustainability assessment which typically results in substantial savings on the family yearly bills. In addition to the Web site, OSU has established a Sustainable Technologies Laboratory , which will develop sustainable technologies and promote the increased use of renewables fuels.

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In order to turn a profit, farmers must constantly consider how to manage operating costs. Precision farming utilizes GSP-like technology to pinpoint necessary inputs and outputs to reduce waste and promote healthy crops.

Farmers are already using similar technology to steer their tractors and harvesters accurately across their fields. But they are doing something even more signifi cant. Alabama Cooperative Extension agents teach farmers to combine GPS with geographic infor mation system (GIS) technology to compile a staggeringly complex cropland database.

Using this database in tandem with GPS, farmers are now able to plant, spray and harvest their crops with virtual pinpoint accuracy, applying chemicals such as fertilizer, lime and nitrogen only where it’s needed. The result: sig nificant cost savings and reduced levels of farm chemicals that ultimately leach into lakes, rivers and streams.

To view more on the GIS technology, visit http://www.aces.edu/anr/precisionag/index.php

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