.www.nj.com...Despite a historically antagonistic relationship, New Jersey Audubon and a group of local farmers have come together in an innovative program that uses sunflower crops to bring in farming dollars while still supporting environmental goals. For the last four years, a handful of farmers have agreed to grow sunflowers and harvest and bag the seeds. As an incentive, New Jersey Audubon pays an above-market rate for the seeds and sells them as S.A.V.E. (Support Agricultural Viability and the Environment), the state's only locally-grown bird seed. The project is still in its infancy but seed sales have jumped from an initial three tons to almost 60 tons last year. Part of the proceeds are set aside for restoring grassland habitats for threatened and endangered birds.The repeated popularity of the sunflowers in bloom spurred New Jersey Audubon to arrange free tours of the fields at three farms around the state this weekend. (Video by Nyier Abdou/The Star-Ledger)

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