Ag Resources > Sustainable Farming
The Nebraska Department of Agriculture's weed book is available from the Department of Ag office in Lincoln. This hardbound book contains detailed descriptions of 396 weeds, each with color photographs. It includes close-up photos of weed flowers and key identification characteristics. It can be purchased directly from the Department of Ag office in Lincoln for a cost or to order, write the Nebraska Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, PO Box 94756, Lincoln, NE 68509, or call (402) 471-2341. Delivery will take 2 to 3 weeks.
Small Farm Resources Project (SFRP)
Cover crops, windbreaks, terraces, rotations, composting. These are some of the practices that over 20 farm families experimented with ten years ago to provide, conserve, or cycle crop nutrients. These families participated in the Small Farm Resources Project (SFRP) to try and increase their yields, reduce their costs, improve their soils, and retain management control of their farms.
Earl Fish tried corn windbreaks in his soybean fields to reduce soil water loss caused by hot summer winds. He found a 4-5% increase in bean yields in a dry year but no advantage in a wet year. Gary Young created narrow strips of corn and soybeans throughout the whole field that provided both windbreak and fertilization benefits. Several families tried cover crops to reduce water loss, control off-season erosion, and provide soil nitrogen. These trials included rye, turnips, triticale, several legumes, and other crops. The cooperators saw slight increases in crop yields and definite successes and failures with different cover crops. Many of them decided to experiment with cover crops beyond the life of the SFRP.
Some of the SFRP cooperators have made improvements to their ideas since the project ended. Bill Kleinschmit cut his fertilizer costs and increased crop yields by using composted dairy manure. He modified a hay windrower in 1983 to turn and windrow the compost. In 1993 he redesigned the compost-turner and, with a special USDA grant, built a more powerful and reliable machine for only $5000. The project concluded that, "...these families have become more confident in their own decision-making. In turn, they have gained a new enthusiasm for farming and are more convinced than ever of the soundness and sustainability of their way of farming - small, diversified, and conservation-oriented.... These farms survived and prospered in contradiction to conventional agricultural theory."
Their approaches might help your farm to prosper as well. Individual practice results or the total SFRP report are available from the Center for Rural Affairs. Contact them at www.cfra.org.
Return to Resistance: Breeding Crops to Reduce Pesticide Dependence
by Raoul A. Robinson, explains how groups of farmers can work together to breed crops with effective, durable resistance to all locally important pests and diseases. Dr. Robinson analyzes crop breeding's successes and shortcomings, and explains the new techniques of breeding food crops with this inherited immunity - technically termed "horizontal resistance". Properly used, horizontal resistance could provide us with a largely pest-free agriculture, one which is largely pesticide-free as well.
To order, call: 1-800-235-7177.
The Soul of Soil: A Guide to Ecological Soil Management
by Grace Gershuny and Joe Smillie, provides a practical introduction to managing soil for long-term productivity. It is a handbook of useful guidelines to help make sound management decisions based on ecological principles, with minimal reliance on "off-farm" fertilizers. The authors describe good management of soil organic matter and humus to achieve long-lasting soil fertility. These methods include the use of green manures, crop rotations, on-farm composting, and mineral fertilizers. The Soul of Soil includes many tables, a glossary, lists of resource groups and organizations, and a bibliography. Contact: agACCESS at: (916) 756-7177; Fax: (916) 756-7188.
Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) Web Site
Now you can access the latest information on sustainable agriculture at a new, user-friendly web site maintained by the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN). This informative web site features on-line books and a database of more than 1,000 research projects funded by the USDA's Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. It is located at: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/san/
Steel in the Field: A Farmer's Guide to Weed Management Tools
Shows how today's implements and techniques can handle weeds while reducing - or eliminating - herbicides. The 128-page book presents what farmers and researchers have learned in the past 20 years about cutting weed-control costs through improved cultivation tools, cover crops and crop rotations. To order contact: Sustainable Agriculture Publications, Hills Building, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405-0082. Please include mailing address, daytime phone number and reference number MP091197.