ATTRA - Voices from the Field

In this episode, Madelynn Nelson, an AmeriCorps member serving with Energy Corps as a sustainable-agriculture farm-energy educator at NCAT's headquarters in Butte, Montana, talks with West Virginia farmer and beekeeper Eric Grandon. Eric, an alumnus of the Armed to Farm training for veterans offered by NCAT's ATTRA sustainable agriculture program, runs Sugar Bottom Farm in Clay County, W...

In this episode, Lee Rinehart, a specialist with NCAT's ATTRA sustainable agriculture program, takes a break during the 2019 Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture Conference to talk with commercial fisherman Steve Kurian. Steve is the owner of Wild for Salmon, which directly markets fresh and frozen wild salmon caught in Bristol Bay, Alaska. Lee, who works out of NCAT's No...

In this episode, NCAT community foods outreach specialist Daniel Prial, and Andy Pressman, director of NCAT's Northeast Region office in Keene, New Hampshire, talk to Atina Diffley, author of Turn Here Sweet Corn: Organic Farming Works, a 2013 Minnesota Book Award winner. Both Andy and Daniel work with NCAT's ATTRA sustainable agriculture program. Atina is a Minnesota organic farmer and...

In this podcast, Robert Maggiani, a sustainable agriculture specialist with NCAT's ATTRA sustainable agriculture program, talks with Juan Raygoza about his farm in South Texas. Juan moved to the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas in 2007 with little money. His goal was to farm vegetables for his family. At first he borrowed land to farm, and then was able to purchase seven acres with the help o...

In this episode, Sue Beckwith and Mike Morris, co-authors of the new book Beyond Fresh: a Food Processing Guide for Texas Farmers , discuss the book and the issues it addresses. The book, a workbook, is focused mostly on Texas farmers, helping them decide whether they should move beyond just selling fresh and whole fruits and vegetables by trying to create and sell value-added food products. Beyon...

In this episode, we hear a conversation between Rockiell Woods, director of NCAT's Gulf States Regional Office in Jackson, Mississippi, and Sam Humphrey, director of the NCAT Demonstration Farm at Piney Woods School near Jackson. The purpose of the farm is to give hands-on training to farmers and producers in the region, as well as to the students of Piney Woods. This Demonstration Farm is pa...

In this podcast, Tammy Howard, a horticulture specialist with NCAT's ATTRA sustainable-agriculture program, talks with Anna Elbon and Kim Gilchrist about their low-income local-food access work with farms and farmers markets in Montana. Kim Gilchrist is a food access program manager at the Community Food and Agriculture Coalition in Missoula, Montana. She helped start the Double SNAP Dollar p...

In this episode, Kara Kroeger, a sustainable agriculture specialist with the NCAT ATTRA sustainable agriculture program, talks with Kate Greenberg – who at the time was the acting Western program director of the National Young Farmers Coalition and chair of the board of the Quivira Coalition. Kate has since left those positions to become the Colorado Agriculture Commissioner. Kara works out of NCA...

In this episode, Felicia Bell, an agricultural specialist with NCAT's ATTRA sustainable agriculture program, talks with Dr. Ayanava Mujamdar, an entomology and plant pathology Extension Service specialist at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. Felicia works out of the NCAT Gulf States Office in Jackson, Mississippi. Dr. A, as he's known, talks about creating an Integrated Pest Manageme...

In this episode, Margo Hale, NCAT's Southeast Regional Director, has a conversation with farmer Terrell "Spence" Spencer about his poultry-processing facility. Margo is a livestock specialist with NCAT's ATTRA sustainable-agriculture program at NCAT's Southeast office in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Spence is a pastured-poultry producer in northwest Arkansas, raising nearly 12,...

In this episode, Andrew Coggins, the Sustainable Agriculture Project Coordinator with NCAT ATTRA's SIFT - Small-Scale Intensive Farm Training program - talks with John Wallace, who manages NCAT's SIFT farm. Andrew and John are both specialists with NCAT's ATTRA - the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service – and work at NCAT's headquarters in Butte, Montana, where...

Mycology is the study of fungi, an important topic in agriculture and soil science. Myco Alliance is a science and education company focusing on mycology in the central Texas area. In this podcast, Colin and Daniel cover a range of topics, from raising mushrooms – a type of fungi – to the role of fungi in soil health and the story of how the Mycology Alliance came to be. For more information on th...

In this episode, Martin Guerana, a sustainable agriculture specialist with NCAT's ATTRA – the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service – talks with Brett Melone, the Director of Lending with California FarmLink. California FarmLink, which began in 1999, helps beginning, limited-resource, immigrant, and other underserved farmers who are trying to get access to land or financing. It...

In this episode, Linda Coffey, a livestock specialist with NCAT's ATTRA, the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service, at NCAT's Southeast Regional Office in Fayetteville, Arkansas, talks with Ken Coffey, a Ruminant Nutritionist at the University of Arkansas about strategies for winter ruminant feeding. Linda and Ken, who are married, have raised sheep since 1986. They talk a...

In this episode, Nina Prater, a soil specialist with NCAT's ATTRA - the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service - sits down for a conversation with NCAT Southeast Regional Director Margo Hale to talk about Margo's recent soil test results for her 20-acre livestock farm. Margo and Nina both work out of NCAT's regional office in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Margo and her famil...

In this episode, Nina Prater, a Soil Specialist with NCAT's ATTRA - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service - at NCAT's Southeast Regional Office in Fayetteville, Arkansas, sits down with Dr. Buz Kloot of the University of South Carolina to talk about a new composting system developed by Dr. David Johnson and Hui-Chen Su Johnson, dubbed the Johnson-Su Composting Bioreactor,...

In this episode, Al Kurki, a specialist with NCAT's ATTRA, the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service, at NCAT's headquarters in Butte, Montana, talks about growing oilseed and oilseed production with Bob Quinn of Big Sandy, Montana. Bob operates Quinn Farms and the Oil Barn in Big Sandy, Montana. The Oil Barn is a processing plant that produces 100% organic, high-oleic saf...

In this episode, Jeff Schahczenski, agricultural and natural resource economist for NCAT's ATTRA Program, talks about the current and future development of organic field-crop markets with Jessie Bovay and Ryan Koory.

Production to Address Community Needs

In this episode, Tammy Howard, a specialist with NCAT’s ATTRA, the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service, at NCAT’s headquarters in Butte, Montana, has a conversation with Rebeca Nolan of Dusty Hound Farms in Tetonia, Idaho.

In this episode, National Center for Appropriate Technology Livestock Specialist Dave Scott talks about the factors that led him to transition his own lambing operation to regenerative grazing.

In this episode NCAT’s Rich Myers has a conversation about Whole Farm Revenue Protection Insurance with Jeff Schahczenki, an agricultural and natural resource economist.

In this episode, Lee Rinehart, an NCAT/ATTRA Ag Specialist, talks with Brian Filipowich of Anacostia Aquaponics in Washington, D.C. Lee works out of NCAT's Northeast Regional Office in Keene, New Hampshire.

Land Loss in African-American Communities

In this episode, Rock Woods, director of the National Center for Appropriate Technology’s Gulf States Office in Jackson, Mississippi, talks with Dr. William Evans concerning Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) standards.