MONROE — Three local farmers have received grant money from the North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program for specified projects this year.
Lauren Rudersdorf with Raleigh’s Hillside Farm in Brodhead, has recently been recommended to receive a $26,185 grant from the North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program for the project, “Should I Start a CSA Farm?: An Educational Video Series for Current & Aspiring CSA Farmers.”
Rudersdorf said the project supports the long-term success of a community supported agriculture by increasing farmer knowledge of expectations inherent in CSA through an educational video series so that they may assess the appropriateness of CSA as a business model for their operation, obtain a higher quality of life and increase profitability.
Edward Kaderly with Edward S. Kaderly Farm in Juda has recently been recommended to receive a $6,137 grant from the North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program for the project, “Correlating Land Management to Soil Health, Water Quality, and Nutrition.”
Kaderly said their project will correlate land management to soil health, water quality and crop nutrition by comparing soil microbial community structure and key soil chemical and physical properties in conventional and conservation agricultural fields and crops in three impaired watersheds in the Lower Sugar River Watershed in Green County.
Christopher McGuire with Two Onion Farm in Belmont has recently been recommended to receive a $8,920 grant from the North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program for the project, “Organic Control of Canada Thistle in Mulched Orchards.”
McGuire plans to compare mulching with cardboard, organic herbicide sprays, mowing with a string trimmer, hand pulling and hoeing as methods of suppressing Canada Thistle in orchards mulched with bark.
This grant was awarded as part of NCR-SARE’s Farmer Rancher Grant Program, which is a competitive grant program for farmers and ranchers who want to explore sustainable solutions to problems through on-farm research, demonstration and education projects.
The focus for each of the NCR-SARE grant programs is on research and education. Funding considerations are based on how well the applicant presents the problem being addressed, the project’s relevance to sustainable agriculture in the 12-state North Central region and how well it aligns with NCR-SARE’s goals, among other factors specific to each grant program.