Posted January 2012
This case study shares the experience of one Wisconsin farmer who has been growing cover crops on his cash grain farm for twenty years. He presents his philosophy of cover crop use, explains what cover crop management practices have and have not worked on his farm, and describes what benefits he sees from growing cover crops. Continue Reading...
Want to grow your passion for growing flowers into a small business? The 2012 Wisconsin Cut Flower Growers School is a two-day workshop designed to help people who have that goal in mind. The workshop will be held February 18–19 on the UW-Madison campus. [...more]
Farm to school encourages healthy lifestyles in children and helps support local economies. The Wisconsin Farm to School Toolkits for school nutrition directors and producers can help you create a successful farm to school program in your community. [...more]
Environmental sociologist Michael Bell has been named director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems (CIAS), a multi-disciplinary research and outreach program that focuses on developing sustainable production and marketing strategies for small to medium-sized agricultural and food enterprises. [...more]
Wisconsin is seeing a renewed interest in planting cover crops to prevent soil erosion, retain or add nutrients, reduce pest pressures and accomplish other goals. [...more]
A mix of casual gardeners and farmers who make a living in part through crop sales met at Tom and Mary Lou Nicholls’s Nature Education Center in Fifield to learn about native pollinators—species that could play a vital role in preserving American agriculture if honeybees continue to see their current levels of decline. (Photo: Hannah Gaines) [...more]
The Wisconsin Cut Flower Growers School offers practical information on how to grow and sell flowers using organic and sustainable production practices and manage a cut flower business. It will be held February 18-19 on the UW-Madison campus. More information is available here.
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The Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems and Community Development has recognized CIAS and Agriculture of the Middle as "influential initiatives" working on value chains over the past ten years. Value chains are strategic alliances between farmers, processors, distributors, retailers and other partners in the food supply chain. These partners work together to deliver high quality, differentiated food to the marketplace and share profits equally. CIAS has researched and developed teaching materials on value chains. CIAS researcher Steve Stevenson contributed to two articles in the value chain issue of JAFSCD; view the abstracts here and here.
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