Organic Farming and Gardening

Apply by Dec. 21 for NRCS Monarch Habitat Funding

December 21 is the deadline for farmers and ranchers to apply for funding from the current round of the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service's Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). EQIP provides financial and technical assistance…

Position Announcement: Education / Horticulture Program Manager

Responsible for design, development and delivery of educational programming related to sustainable horticulture and organic horticulture. Educational programming will be hands on, written and web-based….

Texas Farmers Learn to Build Soil Health Through No-till and Cover Crops

Just across the state line in Vernon... (via Southern SARE) Farmers tour cover crop research plots in north Texas. Photo credit: Southern SARE. It’s a hot, dry, windy summer day on the plains of…

Neonics: Addictive – and Overused

Neonicotinoid pesticides, or neonics, rank high among the many threats facing honeybees – so high that the European Union has banned three of the most widely used ones outright. Now, though, it turns out that…

Stretching Every Drop: Summer Irrigation Tips

In general, the Kerr Center horticulture program is pretty sparing with irrigation. When we do use water, we try to work it so that a little goes a long way. In high summer, when crops…

Researchers Find Water Conservation Solutions in Cover Crops

via Southern SARE:

In a two-year graduate student study at Texas Tech University, funded through the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SSARE) program, winter cover crops – specifically rye – helped build healthy soils while preserving precious water for summer crops in minimally tilled forage-based grazing systems.