Entries by ncat-admin

Episode 182. Getting Started in Livestock, Part 2: Species Considerations

In this episode of Voices from the Field, NCAT Southeast Regional Office Director Margo Hale continues her conversation with Linda Coffey, an NCAT livestock specialist, regarding tips for those considering raising livestock. Margo also is a livestock specialist and lifelong livestock producer, and she and Linda both raise livestock near Fayetteville, Arkansas, where the NCAT […]

Techniques for Selling the Farm Story

By Daniel Prial, NCAT Community Food Specialist Spicing Up Your Story Let me start by saying that I’m not a graphic designer. I’m a storyteller. But any good storyteller knows that there’s more than one way to tell a story. Some storytellers specialize in audio (e.g., podcasts), others in video (e.g., films). Even C3PO in […]

Episode 181. Pandemics and the Farm

In this episode of Voices from the Field, Rockiell Woods, director of NCAT’s Gulf States Regional Office in Jackson, Mississippi, has a conversation about the effect the COVID-19 pandemic is having on farms – both as a growing operation and as a business. Joining him are Dr. Cindy Ayers-Elliot of Foot Print Farms in Jackson […]

Farm Equipment and Infrastructure

By Margo Hale, NCAT Southeast Regional Director, Armed to Farm Program Director, and Agriculture Specialist Last week, I shared a few thoughts about getting started with livestock. In the Getting Started with Livestock Podcast, NCAT Livestock Specialist Linda Coffey and I discussed our farm goals, how our livestock enterprises help us meet those goals, and […]

Episode 180. Meet the Subsurfer

In this episode of Voices from the Field, Nina Prater, a sustainable agriculture specialist with NCAT’s southeast office in Fayetteville, Arkansas, talks with Dr. Phillip Owens and Dr. Amanda Ashworth about a new piece of farm technology called a subsurfer. Dr. Owens is research leader with the Dale Bumpers Small-Farm Research Center in Booneville, Arkansas, […]

Getting Started with Livestock

My day begins with a hot cup of coffee and a quick check of our farm. What a thrill to find a new baby calf from our Belted Galloways, to watch the antics of our pig, to have my girls gather farm-fresh eggs, and to watch the goats grazing. Livestock bring life to the farm!
By Margo Hale, NCAT Southeast Regional Director, Armed to Farm Program Director, and Agriculture Specialist

Episode 179. Getting Started in Livestock, Part 1

In this episode of Voices from the Field, Margo Hale and Linda Coffey, lifelong livestock producers and long-time NCAT livestock specialists, talk about getting started in livestock. What is the appeal, and what are the important considerations? Margo is director of NCAT’s Southeast Regional Office in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where she and Linda both work. In […]

Episode 178. Blockchain and Agriculture

In this episode of Voices from the Field, Jeff Schahczenski, NCAT agricultural and natural resource economist, and Marieke de Ruyter de Wildt discuss issues surrounding the possibly disruptive technology of blockchain as used in agriculture and food supply chain management. Blockchain technology is often described as a system that maintains a record of transactions across […]

Fall Planting Fruit Trees

All across the South and as far north as USDA Climate Zone 5, fall planting of fruit trees can help get fruit trees off to a big head-start compared to fruit trees planted in spring. Why? The answer is a small thing and as thin as the thinning hairs on my old head.
By Guy Ames, NCAT Horticulture Specialist