Worm castings are hand-sorted and fresh vermicompost is screened
hands holding soil in crop field

Episode 260. Rising Fertilizer Costs: Look to History for Answers 

In this episode of Voices from the Field, NCAT Specialists Nina…
hands holding biochar from various feedstocks
healthy soil
cattle grazing diverse forage copy

Soil Health Academy: More than Just a Soil Health Workshop

By Luz Ballesteros Gonzalez, NCAT Agriculture Specialist The…

Episode 254. Meet NCAT. Luz Ballesteros Gonzalez Connects Food, Agriculture, Community, and Health

In this episode of Voices from the Field, we meet up with one of NCAT’s newest sustainable agriculture specialists, Luz Ballesteros Gonzalez. In her conversation with colleague Robert Maggiani in the NCAT Southwest Regional Office in San Antonio, Texas, Luz explains how she decided on a career in sustainable agriculture. After initially setting out to study medicine, her interests in chemistry and environmental sciences led her to see the connections between health and food, agriculture, and community.
Luz Ballesteros Gonzalez and Robert Maggiani

Farmers and Ranchers Are Neither the Cause Nor the Solution to Climate Disruption

The anxiety and stress farmers and ranchers face because of the consequence of climate disruption are real, but neither the causes nor significant solutions rest with farmers and ranchers. According to a new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the level of net greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in 2019 was estimated to be 59 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent. A gigaton is a billion metric tons. That is a lot of extra climate-disrupting gases being released into the atmosphere of our planet every year. Unfortunately, those emissions levels are growing.
Jeff Schahczenski, NCAT Agricultural and Natural Resource Economist