Entries by Cathy Svejkovsky

Series of Virtual Sustainable Agriculture Workshops Now Online

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Our NCAT Gulf States team has been working hard throughout the pandemic to provide quality technical assistance to farmers that we’re known for. Instead of meeting with farmers in-person, we shifted to virtual events. In-person on-farm workshops will always be our favorite way to teach, but we found that there are benefits to embracing the virtual platform. One significant benefit was that we were able to record these virtual workshops and share them with a national audience.
By Nina Prater, Sustainable Agriculture Specialist

How to Make Sure Your Leguminous Cover Crop is Doing its Job

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Legumes are a superstar cover crop, particularly in warm, subtropical climates because unlike other cover crops, legumes have the ability to turn atmospheric nitrogen into nitrogen that crops can use. But as Stephanie Kasper, a biology research associate at University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley explains, legumes require an important partner to do their job.
By Emilie Saunders, NCAT Communications Director

Risk Management in the Real World

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By Nina Prater, NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Specialist It is always challenging to be a farmer, with so many things outside our control: the weather, of course, but customers, markets, and supply chains can also shift as unpredictably as the summer rain. If the past year of the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that farm […]

Grasmick Produce: Montana Apples through DoD Fresh

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In this episode of Voices from the Field, NCAT Specialist Kei Matsunami talks with Chris Gaskell of Grasmick Produce of Twin Falls and Boise, Idaho, about the company’s farm to school sales and DoD Fresh contract with Montana Office of Public Instruction.   Related ATTRA Resources: Farm to School Sales: Profiles of Ranches Making it […]

Farm to Food Hub to School

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In this video, Daniel Prial, a specialist with the National Center for Appropriate Technology, talks with Alex McCullough and McKenna Hayes of Food Connects food hub in Brattleboro, Vermont, about tips and strategies for selling to schools through food hubs. Related ATTRA Resources: Food Hubs: A Producer Guide Food Hubs and School Sales Farm to […]

Food Hubs and School Sales

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In this episode of the Bringing the Farm to School Podcast series, Lacy Stephens of the National Farm to School Network talks with Alicia Ellingsworth of the Kansas City Food Hub and KC Farm School in Kansas City, Kansas. Alicia shares the benefits, opportunities and strategies for successful school sales from the perspective of a […]

Farm to School Aquaponics Program

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In this episode of Voices from the Field, Al Kurki, agriculture specialist at NCAT’s Rocky Mountain West Regional Office in Butte, Montana, has a conversation with Rachel Jones, Executive Director of Farm to School of Park County. With a USDA Farm to School grant, Rachel turned one of the school’s greenhouses into an aquaponics laboratory. […]

Episode 97. Bear Paw Meats: Selling Beef to Schools

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In this episode of Voices from the Field, In this podcast, Al Kurki, a program specialist with NCAT’s ATTRA sustainable agriculture program, interviews Karla Buck, co-owner of Bear Paw Meats in Chinook, Montana. Al talks with Karla about how the Bucks raise, process, and market meat to school districts in the area surrounding their business. […]

Battling Borers in Organic Apple Production

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By Guy Ames, NCAT Horticulturist Organic apple production in the Southeast U.S. has many challenges and controlling trunk borers is one of the most serious. Left unchallenged, borers can kill young apple trees before they ever get started bearing fruit. And older trees are not immune from the ravages of these pests either. In the […]