Weed control demands time, labor and expense for every farmer every year. Steel in the Field shows how today's implements and techniques can control weeds while reducing -- or eliminating -- herbicides. In practical language, the 128-page book presents what farmers and researchers have learned in the last 20 years about cutting weed-control costs through improved cultivation tools, cover crops and new cropping rotations. 
This is the first tool-centered book to combine farmer experience, commercial agricultural engineering expertise and university research. It directly tackles the hard questions of how to comply with erosion-prevention plans, how to remain profitable and how to manage residue and moisture loss. 
Farmers -- 22 of them -- do a lot of the talking, sharing their struggles and successes with tools, weeds, herbicides and cropping systems. Their advice ranges from the specific -- setting mini-disks 0.75 inches deep and 2 inches away from 2-inch tall plants -- to the general, such as one farmer's estimate of the correct speed for using his coil-tine weeder: "As fast as you can hang on is fine." This book is a must for anyone looking to reduce or replace pesticide inputs. Index, contact list, detailed illustrations and tool source list included.

Steel in the Field: A Farmer's Guide to Weed-Management Tools (Sustainable Agriculture Network Handbook Series, 2)

Engineering & Transportation

Greg Bowman

Engineering

Sustainable Agriculture Network

Managing Cover Crops Profitably explores how and why cover crops work and provides all the information needed to build cover crops into any farming operation. Revised and updated in 2007, the 3rd edition includes new chapters on brassicas and mustards, six new farm profiles, as well as a comprehensive chapter on the use of cover crops in conservation tillage systems. Updates throughout are based on more than 100 new literature citations and consultations with cover crop researchers and practitioners around the country. Appendices include seed sources and a listing of cover crop experts.

Managing Cover Crops Profitably (Sustainable Agriculture Network Handbook Series)

Science & Math

SARE Outreach

Technology

Healthy soils are key to producing good harvests with minimal pest problems. How to create that balanced soil ecosystem, however, remains a challenge for even the most experienced growers. 
Building Soils for Better Crops unlocks the secret of maintaining a diverse ecosystem below ground to foster healthy crops above. Ecological soil management, as detailed by the soil experts who wrote the book, can raise fertility and yields while reducing environmental impacts. The 240-page Building Soils contains detailed information about soil structure and the management practices that affect soils, as well as practical information like how to interpret soil test results. 
Some of the soil-building strategies include: 
 Increasing soil organic matter 
 Using appropriate tillage 
 Incorporating animal manures 
 Making and using composts 
 Integrating cover crops into rotations 
 Reducing erosion 
 Methods to avoid and decrease soil compaction

Building Soils for Better Crops

FRED MAGDOFF

Harold Van Es

In recent years, the blue orchard bee (BOB) has become established as an alternative orchard pollinator in North America. With a strong preference for fruit trees, BOBs are highly efficient pollinators; in fact, just 250-300 females will pollinate an entire acre of apples or almonds. BOBs forage and pollinate under cloudy skies and at lower temperatures than most other bees. They are easy to manage and rarely sting. 
To learn how to manage BOBs for successful orchard pollination, consult this guide from the USDA-ARS Bee Biology and Systematics Laboratory. Learn about: BOB natural history 
Building nesting materials Rearing and wintering populations Field management for maximum pollination Deterring parasites and predators

How to Manage the Blue Orchard Bee As an Orchard Pollinator (Sustainable Agriculture Network Handbook Series)

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Bosch, Jordi

Kemp, William P.

Gardening & Landscape Design

Innovative farmers and ranchers know that alternative crops and value-added products give them an edge in the marketplace. Effective planning is crucial to the long-term profitability of any new venture. Building a Sustainable Business brings the business planning process alive to help alternative and sustainable agriculture entrepreneurs transform farm-grown inspiration into profitable enterprises. The step-by-step strategies help you develop a detailed, lender-ready business plan or map out ways to take advantage of new opportunities, such as: Organic farming Agri-tourism On-farm processing Alternative crops Direct marketing Adding value Much more than a planning document, Building a Sustainable Business follows dairy farmers Dave and Florence Minar through a major transition on their Minnesota farm. The Minars' experiences and excerpts from their sample worksheets lend a real-life perspective, illustrating how they and five other farm families set goals, researched alternatives, determined potential markets and evaluated financing options. Blank worksheets in the book help you create and organize your own plan. Your business plan will demonstrate that you have fully researched your idea, mapped out production and marketing strategies, and that you know how to sell your product.

Building a Sustainable Business: A Guide to Developing a Business Plan for Farms and Rural Businesses

Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agri

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Books by Sustainable Agriculture Network