This guest post is by SARE Outreach for the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture – National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA).  SARE’s mission is to advance – to the whole of American agriculture – innovations that improve profitability, stewardship and qualify of life by investing in groundbreaking research and education.

SARE’s communications team is honored to receive two top awards for their biennial report, 2011/2012 Report from the Field, from the Association for Communications Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences (ACE). Report from the Field, a collection of 12 stories about recent cream-of-the-crop SARE grantees and their work, received ACE’s 2013 Outstanding Professional Skill Award for the writing class, as well as a gold medal for writing within a specialized publication.  

“From the opening page, this document does a fantastic job at explaining who SARE is and what it does,” commented an ACE judge.

Stories from 2011/2012 Report from the Field include two Nebraska brothers who began using cover crops in low-moisture situations, a renewable energy training that has benefited thousands of Southern farmers, a Cornell Extension specialist who is helping onion growers improve their sustainability, and a curriculum that helps USDA professionals better serve American Indians in the West.

2011/2012 Report from the Field was written by SARE Outreach’s Andy Zieminski and Dena Leibman, with important contributions from regional communications specialists Stacie Clary (Western SARE), Marie Flanagan (North Central SARE), Helen Husher (Northeast SARE) and Candace Pollock (Southern SARE).

The award was presented at the ACE annual meeting in Indianapolis, June 11-14.  Learn more about ACE and download a PDF of SARE’s 2011/2012 Report from the Field.