Entries by Cathy Svejkovsky

Dixon Water Foundation Uses Grazing to Protect and Improve Water Resources

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By Mike Morris and Darron Gaus, NCAT Agriculture Specialists With roots in regenerative land stewardship since 1994, The Dixon Water Foundation has been approaching one of Texas’s limited resources in a unique way. While many other groups promote better livestock management and land stewardship, Dixon is one of the few organizations nationally in its specific […]

Establishing Native Warm-Season Meadows Without Herbicides

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By Chris Lent, NCAT Agriculture Specialist  Planting a conservation cover of warm-season grasses and wildflowers on my property in Northeastern Pennsylvania was a great decision and has been very rewarding. I often observe rabbits and the foxes and hawks that hunt them (including the occasional Northern Harrier), a multitude of songbirds, and many insect pollinators […]

Perennial Forages, Shrubs, and Trees, Part 2

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By Justin Morris, NCAT Regenerative Grazing Specialist In my last blog, I discussed how U.S. agriculture is highly dependent on annual plants. Annual plants are high yielding and can go from seed to full maturity in just a few months, but they must be planted each year. With their less extensive root systems compared to […]

High Hope Farm: Regenerative Agriculture in Action 

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By Luz Ballesteros Gonzalez and Felicia Bell, NCAT Agriculture Specialists Soil for Water network member High Hope Farm is located in the “black prairie” country of western Clay County, Mississippi, and is owned and operated by Johnny and Deb Wray. Soil for Water Mississippi team leader Felicia Bell recently sat down with Mr. Wray to […]

LaTrael Brigham

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LaTrael Brigham gained farming experience both as a child and a young adult. He started farming by working in his grandma’s garden and then, as a teenager, working on a farm. He joined the military, where his interest in farming broadened, as he could see how agriculture is all around us. Witnessing the vineyards and […]

Donetta Boykin

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Donnetta Boykin, owner and operator of Endigo’s Herbals & Organics, started her farming career as a gardener in Trotter, Ohio, a small city just outside of Dayton, in 2003. After her son’s school called to report his behavior, she would then ask, “what are you all feeding him for breakfast?” She would then discover that […]

Michael Stevens

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Michael Stephens, an Army veteran, operates 5 A’s Veggies and Produce, located in Waynesboro, Georgia, along with other family members. He is a fifth-generation farmer who wanted more for the farm and his family when he saw the need for both healthier foods and income during the COVID-19 pandemic. He says the pandemic inspired the […]

Cetta Barnhart

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Originally from Philadelphia, Cetta Barnhart became a transplant to Monticello, Florida, after attending Florida Agriculture and Mechanical University and meeting her husband. Cetta is the owner and operator of Seed Time Farm Harvest, an online CSA that she started for people in her community who did not have access to good, healthy food. Cetta shared […]

Kay Bell

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Farming was something Kay Bell did not plan to do, but after experiencing a serious health event and with encouragement from her friends, she decided to begin her agricultural journey in Waco, Texas. Her journey has been full of overcoming obstacles through networking and peer-to-peer learning. Her passion is to “bring people back to growing […]

Perennial Forages, Shrubs, and Trees, Part 1

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By Justin Morris, NCAT Regenerative Grazing Specialist It has been estimated that 80 percent of all crops farmed globally are annuals. However, in nature, perennials make up over 90 percent of all plants. Agriculture is overwhelmingly focused on annual plants worldwide. Most of the nation’s staple food crops like corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, barley, rice, […]