The Two Best Legume Cover Crops for Hot and Humid Climates
Cover crops can be an investment in your future soil health. And it’s legume cover crops that can deliver a lasting soil benefit that other cover crop options don’t: nitrogen.
By Colin Mitchell, Sustainable Agriculture Specialist
By Colin Mitchell, Sustainable Agriculture Specialist
NCAT’s Armed to Farm Returns to In-Person Training
In January 2020, NCAT’s Armed to Farm team was busy making plans to host eight workshops, including one in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in June 2020. However, by late April it had become clear that we would not be able to meet in person for some time. After a year of waiting and hoping and Zooming, we were thrilled to finally host the 25th week-long Armed to Farm in May 2021 at Mount Sequoyah Retreat Center in Fayetteville. We were so happy to be back with a group of military veterans eager and ready to learn about sustainable farming.
By Robyn Metzger, Armed to Farm Coordinator
By Robyn Metzger, Armed to Farm Coordinator
LC Compost Solutions – A Future Solution for Carcass and Bio-hazardous Waste Disposal in Montana
While NCAT was preparing our final report for the Blackfeet feasibility study for a processing plant on tribal land, one thing became apparent: certain by-products from meat processing, such as offal, bones, and hides are very much at the mercy of market prices. One minute, they could be a value-added product, and the next minute, they could become an additional disposal cost.
By Andrew Coggins, NCAT Rocky Mountain West Office Director
By Andrew Coggins, NCAT Rocky Mountain West Office Director
Ready for the Future? Climate Disruption and Crop Insurance
Craig Schmitt, a long-time organic grain farmer from Wolf Point, Montana, has some problems doing the right thing. Having just recently recovered from a bout with COVID-19, he feels lucky to be well again. However, being ill put him behind on seeding and he is almost always worried about enough rain to bring his crops to fruition. Montana is a semi-arid dryland farming area, and that means that using cover cropping (or green manures), minimizing tillage, and optimizing soil moisture is tricky.
By Jeff Schahczenski, NCAT Agricultural and Natural Resource Economist
By Jeff Schahczenski, NCAT Agricultural and Natural Resource Economist
Plant Diversity for Animal Health
While many people make conscious decisions about what foods they eat for health reasons, the same considerations are not often made for livestock. We rarely discuss how the variety of plants they eat affects their health, wellness, and nutrient density of their meat.
By Kara Kroeger, NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Specialist
By Kara Kroeger, NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Specialist
A Spring IPM Toolbox for Controlling Powdery Mildew in Vineyards
Powdery mildew has plagued vineyards since time immemorial. If temperatures reach between 70 and 85 degrees, chances are, powdery mildew has woken up from its slumber and is ready to infect your grapes. When left unchecked, this fungus can reduce vine growth, sabotage yields, and reduce fruit quality. There are all sorts of practices in our integrated pest-management toolbox that we can use to control powdery mildew. Prevention is always number one, but there are plenty of mitigation strategies we can employ as well. Here are some good examples:
By Katherine Favor, NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Specialist
By Katherine Favor, NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Specialist
Fruit and the Freeze of 2021
Better Than I Feared but Worse Than It Looks
By Guy K. Ames,…
Safety Nets and the Polar Vortex
I’m still trying to wrap my head around the polar vortex that hit the United States in mid-February: leaving people in Texas without power for up to two weeks, coming within five minutes of crashing the entire Texas power grid, and devastating farms and ranches across the state, including some good friends of mine. It was a “teachable moment” for sure, offering lessons about climate disruption and power industry deregulation among other things. As someone who spent several years working on improving crop insurance for organic farms, the storm also got me thinking about safety nets: who has them and why some people don’t.
By Mike Morris, NCAT Southwest Regional Director
By Mike Morris, NCAT Southwest Regional Director
Reflections on NCAT’s First Soil Health Innovations Conference
Everyone has their “thing”—that topic or interest that they just can’t get enough of. That topic that you bore people with at parties (remember parties?) when you talk about it just a little too long. For me, my “thing” is soil. I find the topic of soil so endlessly fascinating, and I get to think about, talk about, teach about, and play with soil as a job and a way of life. I’m lucky enough to be a soil specialist for NCAT and I live on a family farm.
By Nina Prater, NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Specialist
By Nina Prater, NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Specialist
Connecting with the Customer
Before I get into another blog post on farm marketing, I need to tell you that I am a dreamer. I was the high school kid who participated in mock government and wrote bills to solve all the county’s issues. I went into the Peace Corps. I’ve only ever held a job working with and for the public and nonprofit sectors. Somewhere, deep inside of me, hidden beneath veneers of humor and rational thinking, is an optimist.
By Daniel Prial, NCAT Community Food Specialist
By Daniel Prial, NCAT Community Food Specialist