Any farmer or rancher will tell you that there is always room to implement a new idea to improve their operation. The problem is that those ideas usually require money. Now there is a solution to help match funds with the most innovative ideas. The North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NCR-SARE) Program is currently accepting applications for their 2006 Farmer Rancher grant program.

NCR-SARE awards grants to farmers and ranchers for on-farm research, demonstrations, and education projects. By providing funds ranging from $6,000 per individual grant to up to $18,000 for grants awarded to groups of three or more, NCR-SARE helps facilitate essential agricultural research and development.

The Bauman family of Garnett, Kansas, recently received a grant through NCR-SARE to help assist in funding their new livestock management system. This system will allow the Bauman's to rotate different types of animals through the same enclosed pastures called paddocks.

"With SARE assistance, we will be able to trench water from our barns to the pastures," said John Bauman. "We will have the cattle move through the paddocks first as they don't graze as thoroughly as the sheep. The pasture will have a chance to rest before the sheep will be grazed a few paddocks behind the cows, getting everything the cows missed. The slower-moving poultry will be the last over the ground as they forage the least, but distribute their manure most evenly. The grass will then have the chance to utilize this nitrogen-rich fertilizer with a candy-green flush of grass that the cows will move back onto, and start the cycle again."

The Bauman's grant is just one example of the wide range of projects that NCR-SARE has funded over the years. Other funded topics include pest and disease management, soil conservation, local marketing, public education, waste management, agri-tourism, crop diversity, aqua-culture, and many others.

NCR-SARE grants are awarded based on the applicants ability to describe how their project will be sustainable in terms of having long-term profitability, being good for the environment, producing healthy foods, being socially responsible and supporting their community.

Last year NCR-SARE funded 47 grants totaling $414,489. This year farmers and ranchers throughout the North Central Region will once again have the opportunity to apply for roughly $400,000 in grant assistance. The 12 states that comprise the North Central Region are Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. The NCR-SARE program receives its funding through the United States Department of Agriculture.

Grant proposals are due in the NCR-SARE office by December 1, 2006. Interested applicants may contact NCR-SARE at 1-800-529-1342 or ncrsare@unl.edu. The current Farmer Rancher Grant Call for Proposals application can be found on the NCR-SARE web site at http://www.sare.org/ncrsare/prod.htm. Previous project reports are made available through the national SARE web site at www.sare.org.

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The Network is a joint venture between the University of Illinois, Purdue University, Michigan State University and organic growers. Today's issue includes:

In this issue
It's not all in the bag: fresh and processed salad greens
Using compost to reduce irrigation
Some observations about soybean aphid
Raising Vegetables and Civic Values: CSA in the 21st Century
Organics symposium proceedings available
News briefs from the American Farmland Trust