Entries by Cathy Svejkovsky

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, […]

Feeding the World Part 2: A Tale of Two Worlds

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By Lee Rinehart, NCAT Agriculture Specialist In the first blog in this series, I wrote about the feed the world narrative and how it is used to divert attention from the interests of powerful organizations and businesses to the interests of a diffuse and artificially constructed idea of a global population. I argued that the […]

Healthy Foundations for Wicked Problems

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By Elise Haschke, Climate Smart Agriculture Coordinator, and Darron Gaus, Sustainable Agriculture Specialist  The word wicked has multiple meanings, depending on whether you are a New Englander or a priest. In the age of problems like climate change and natural resource scarcity, wicked has become a new adjective. Across the globe, within our communities and in […]

A Conversation with Guille Yearwood

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By Lee Rinehart, NCAT Agriculture Specialist  “If you always leave grass behind, you never run out of grass.” I was going to save this quote for the end of this blog; when I heard it during our conversation, I knew it would nicely summarize Guille (Gil) Yearwood’s philosophy. Now, I think it’s better to start […]

Women, Livestock, and the Land—And Other Ways to Make Friends

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By Linda Coffey, NCAT Agriculture Specialist How would you like to join a group of like-minded farmers from all over your region and learn together? After a few months of interacting online, you could meet up and talk and laugh and do hands-on activities and enjoy the camaraderie and encouragement. What if you could mingle […]

Farmer Well-Being: A Happy Farmer Is a Productive Farmer

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By Justin Duncan, NCAT Agriculture Specialist For the last few years, I have been working with a few great organizations on a different sort of project for me. Normally, I help farmers improve their productivity by teaching them to look at their land differently, to bring out potential they hadn’t thought about and by working […]

Coffee and Avocado Agroforestry: The Perfect Pair for your Plate and the Planet

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By Katherine Favor, NCAT Agriculture Specialist  Coffee and avocados are a delicious combination for breakfast—what’s better than a mug of hot, rich coffee and some avocado toast? YUM. Coffee and avocados are the perfect pair on the breakfast table, but did you know that they also make a great pair in the field?   Many growers […]

Agritourism for Beginners

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By Luz Ballesteros Gonzalez, NCAT Agriculture Specialist  The first time I visited a local farm, I was beyond excited to see carrots and cauliflowers grow. As a life-long agritourist, I still stare in awe at the vegetables growing on the farms I visit today. Agritourism has become quite popular among city dwellers like me because […]