Entries by Cathy Svejkovsky

Awesome Alliums

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By Justin Duncan, NCAT Agriculture Specialist  I have had many Allium adventures, growing them from seeds and from sets from items found in the grocery store. In fact, one of the things that got me hooked on growing things as a child was snatching a sprouting onion from my mother’s kitchen and planting it, only […]

Paddock Design and Animal Movement

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Thinking of setting up a multi-paddock grazing system? Or maybe redoing an existing series of paddocks? Perhaps you’re interested exploring the most efficient ways to move livestock through multiple paddocks on a daily basis. The best place to begin is to start with what you have.

Lee Rinehart and Justin Morris

Healthy Soil for a Wealthy Tomorrow

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Jeremy Brown, a fourth-generation cotton farmer in the Texas panhandle, focuses on NRCS’s five soil health principles and uses common-sense practices, including cover cropping, to increase financial prosperity, decrease health stressors, and increase nutrient density in his soils.
Elise Haschke

The Demise and Hope of Whole-Farm Revenue Protection

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By Jeff Schahczenski, Agriculture and Natural Resource Economist “Man is certain of nothing but his ability to fail.” —Ken Kesey, from his novel Sometimes a Great Notion Sometimes a great notion is not enough. Working 18 years trying to improve the sustainability of agriculture through the promotion of a novel federal crop insurance policy called […]

Advanced Grazing, Session 4 – Adaptive Management

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Did you know that grazing management and driving a vehicle have a lot of similarities? While driving, you monitor the road ahead of you to know whether to turn left, turn right, speed up, slow down, or even reverse direction. You make these changes whenever conditions change, like the road curving to the left, wildlife crossing in front of you, or a vehicle suddenly stopping in front of you. Just like driving a vehicle, adaptive grazing management requires that we monitor the condition of the livestock, plants, and soils to know whether we need to modify our management to keep everything on track.
Justin Morris and Lee Rinehart

Wisdom from SHEpherds: ATTRA’s She’s Raising Sheep Podcast Series, Episodes 1-5

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ATTRA has a new podcast series on women shepherds – but why should you care? Maybe because getting started with sheep is much easier with advice from top-notch mentors who openly share their experiences, both good and bad. Maybe because you’d enjoy hearing some funny stories and cautionary tales about sheep. Or perhaps because, even after decades raising sheep, who has ever had a true heart-to-heart with another shepherd without learning something of value?
Linda Poole

A Garden of Hope: The Hub of Prosperity

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Sometimes, old ideas resurface. In the same way, farms can gain a new life after perceived abandon. The beliefs and mindsets the farm embodies emerge with it. They may take a different semblance, but fundamentally, they carry the same hope, regenerated from the ground up. The Hub of Prosperity carries the dreams and hopes of the Magic Valley of the Rio Grande Valley.
Hernan Colmenero

Soil Social: Quorum Sensing, Part 1

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Sunrise is approaching. You grab your morning cup of coffee and head out to your vegetable plot. As you hold your warm mug laced between your fingers, you muse and strategize about the day’s tasks. It is that time, just at first light, that the wind is dead calm, the nightly bug chatter has ended, it is still too early for the birds to start their musical chirping, and the rooster has yet to sound the alarm. You have come to love these special few minutes of each day for their intense vacuum silence. In between sips, you hear a buzz that you haven’t heard before. It is coming from the soil beneath the tomato and squash plants. The microbiology in your soil is having a meeting.  
Darron Gaus

Feeding the World: Localism, Ecological Resilience, and Farmer and Community Agency

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My alarm goes off, the kettle whistles and coffee steeps in the French press. At my desk I boot up my computer to prepare for what comes. Typical day. What’s also typical lately are the numerous articles I read on how the global food system is being stressed by high fuel and fertilizer prices. So today I did a quick search. In 2017, oil prices were $60 per barrel and fertilizer costs were $109 per acre. Fast forward to 2022 and oil is going for $105, and it costs $291 to fertilize an acre of crops.
Lee Rinehart

Sol Seeker Farm: Raising a Pastured Poultry Business

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By Ann Baier, NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Specialist I recently had the opportunity to talk with Edgar Mendoza Samaniego of Sol Seeker Farm, in the Spanish-language podcast Producción Avícola de Pastoreo, about the business of raising poultry on pasture. Our conversation addresses some of the many questions that all new farmers need to ask: How can […]