USDA announced a $1.13 billion investment to support local and regional food systems, building upon the Department’s previous investments in the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement (LFPA) and Local Food for Schools (LFS) programs. This funding will allow states, territories, and federally recognized Tribes to purchase wholesome, locally produced foods for distribution within their […]

Scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign developed an online Agroforestry Suitability Decision Support Tool for the Midwest. The tool can assist program administrators in identifying areas that are most suitable to prioritize for developing agroforestry, based on environmental, social, and economic criteria. Users can define the criteria they want to use for modeling the […]

A new study by researchers at the University of California, Davis, found that feeding grazing beef cattle a seaweed supplement in pellet form reduced their methane emissions by almost 40%. The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was the first in the world to test the effect of seaweed on grazing […]

A feature in Tri-State Neighbor explains how a combination of targeted grazing and prescribed burns is helping landowners combat invasive tree species causing grassland loss in the Great Plains. The Great Plains Grasslands Extension Partnership reports that the spread of invasive trees like Eastern Red Cedar caused the loss of 17 million acres of grasslands […]

A new online tool developed by Purdue University associate professor Ariana Torres will help small farmers in the Midwest make economic decisions related to leafy greens production. The HortCalculator app can help growers of crops like spinach, collard greens, and green leaf lettuce assess the economic feasibility of alternative methods for producing pesticide-free greens, such […]