MADISON, Wis. - Whether you're looking for locally grown organic food, a restaurant that serves locally grown food or a farmer's market, a new website puts the information just a click away.

The REAP Food Group in Madison has launched farmfreshatlas.org, which features more than 800 listings for sources of locally grown food all over Wisconsin. Hannah Wente, communications director for the REAP Food Group, said the site connects people all over the state with fresh local food.

"We hear all the time from people that they want to support local farmers but they're not sure how to do that," she said. "So our goal with this site was really to increase local food purchases in Wisconsin and connect people to local food experiences."

Each farm or business on the site pledges to ensure that they practice environmental sustainability and sell products that are grown or produced on a family farm or cooperatively owned farm.

According to Wente, the new website is the natural evolution of the printed farm-fresh atlases that REAP Food Group has been producing since 2002.

"It's a fun, interactive site," she said, "and people are able to find things that are either close to their house or, when they're traveling - if they're going to Door County or something - they can look up farms and activities in the area."

In addition to farmer's markets and restaurants, farmfreshatlas.org also lists local food events from farm tours to chef demonstrations.

Wente said people these days care more and more about where their food is coming from.

"There's definitely a demand for more transparency in our food," she said, "and this is a tool that people can use to really support local farms that are farming sustainably, reducing pesticide use, treating their animals well, treating their workers well and supporting the local economy, too."

The farmfreshatlas.org site is funded by local and U.S. Department of Agriculture grants.


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SIOUX CITY, Iowa - Iowa's fall harvest is under way, with some farmers reporting better yields than expected. But others are still worried about drought-related losses, and supporters of cover crops say the current conditions could be seen as an opportunity, both for a producer's land and the climate.

State agriculture officials expect mixed results from this year's harvest, with a dry summer and a recent batch of rain. Either way, said Ruth McCabe, a Heartland Cooperative conservation agronomist, an extended warm stretch in October means farmers are moving fast in the fields. She said they should have plenty of time to plant cover crops, which can help build soil health while reducing harmful runoff.

"That's always been the real hurdle in the past," she said, "is that, especially the further north you go, you get your crops harvested - and by the time you've got your crops harvested, it's cold and wet, and maybe snowy."

This year, McCabe said, farmers have more time to consider practices to improve their land's health, and the flexibility allows them to be more selective about which cover crops work best for their operation. Iowa farmers planted more than 2 million acres of cover crops in 2019, accounting for only 8% of the state's cropland.

Supporters of cover-cropping say the figures underscore the need to get more farmers to take advantage of state and federal cost-share programs. With upfront investments still a barrier, said Kayla Bergman, a Center for Rural Affairs policy associate, the aid can help farms of all sizes make climate-friendly choices without losing their shirts.

"No matter how small or how large your farming operation is," she said, "cover crops, for example - along with other conservation practices - are certainly viable for any operation size."

As land gets healthier, she said, farmers could see more consistent yields, improving their bottom line. And with increased awareness about the connection between farm runoff and water pollution in Iowa, the group said cover crops are an important tool to prevent excess phosphorus and nitrates from reaching rivers and streams.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Arkansas produces more rice than any other state, and a new grant will help farmers explore ways to transition the industry to organic.

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture has received a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to research what it would take to grow organic rice domestically.

Alvaro Durand-Morat, assistant professor of agricultural economics and agribusiness at the university, said only a handful of the 100 organic rice farmers in the country are based in Arkansas. One barrier to entry is the lack of information on how the organic rice market operates.

"It is such a small market that the fact that we do not find much public information may be a result of the structure of the market," Durand-Morat explained. "And therefore, our project is trying to overcome that, and make information available to everybody that might be considering it as an opportunity in the future."

He noted the U.S. is a net importer of organic rice, despite exporting almost half of the rice crop it produces every year.

The grant also includes a multistate outreach program to share the research findings with others across the country. Durand-Morat pointed out he sees the research as a chance for rice farmers, in Arkansas and beyond, to expand their business.

"We know that organic rice sells at a very high premium," Durand-Morat observed. "There is a large pool of rice farmers that, if the conditions are right -- if the market information is available, and they can actually plan ahead -- I think there's a great potential for many farmers in Arkansas to eventually embrace organic rice."

The university is collaborating with agriculture nonprofit The Organic Center and the University of California Cooperative Extension on the grant.

This summer, the University of Arkansas also received a $1 million grant from NASA to study greenhouse gases and rice cultivation. It is estimated rice production creates 8% of human-caused methane emissions globally.

EAST TROY, Wis. - Wisconsin farmers are looking ahead to the fall harvest, and those who use cover crops face a deadline to sign up for a research project to measure the effectiveness of this form of sustainable farming.

Cover crops are designed to prevent harmful runoff and improve soil health on the farm. Researchers with the University of Wisconsin and the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute want to connect with producers this fall to see what works best for them.

Dan Smith, southwest regional specialist for the Nutrient and Pest Management Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said it's great that farmers are spreading the word about the practice, but added that reliable data needs to go along with that messaging.

"Cover crops are not free to plant," he said, "so we have to have a return, and in order to have a return, we have to be producing above-ground and below-ground biomass."

The more biomass produced through cover crops means a farmer has healthier soil to work with. This is the second year these partners have gathered data from farmland. Last year's initial run saw 15 participants, and Smith said they're on pace to more than double that number in 2021. The sign-up deadline is Oct. 1.

Smith said the overall goal is to ensure farmers who want to adopt this profitable and environmentally friendly practice have the best cover-crop recommendations for Wisconsin's climate. While a lot of methods have worked, he said their initial research has shown flexibility is sometimes needed.

"If we have really wet fall conditions when we're harvesting," he said, "it's really tough to plant a cover crop. So, can we look to other tools, such as interseeding a cover crop in June?"

He said it's about developing "workable science" for which types of cover crops to use, and when it's best to apply them. The state Department of Agriculture said through its Producer-Led Program, more than 83,000 farm acres in Wisconsin had cover crops in use last year, a 19% increase from the previous year.