Episode 165. SIFT Farm’s Unusual Year
In this episode, Andrew Coggins, director of the National Center for Appropriate Technology’s Rocky Mountain West office, has a conversation with farm manager John Wallace about the unusual growing season so far at NCAT’s SIFT Farm.
Both Andrew and John work out of Butte, Montana.
SIFT — or Small-Scale Intensive Farm Training program — aims to help communities increase their food security by producing their own healthy food. SIFT, with NCAT, has a working, sustainably managed, demonstration farm on five acres at our Butte office.
This farm is the center of a program that teaches farmers and future farmers, urban food producers, community leaders, and citizens how to produce high-value, nutrient-rich food on small parcels of land. And in Butte’s case, in a challenging climate.
This year, the Butte farm site has endured a heavy spring snow and subsequent high winds, in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic. John talks about how the farm has reacted, both in production and in its community associations.
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Related ATTRA Resources:
Urban and Community Agriculture
SIFT 2018: Lessons from a Small-Scale Urban Intensive Farm
SIFT 2019: Continuing Lessons from a Small-Scale Urban Intensive Farm
Production to Address Community Needs
Please call ATTRA with any and all of your sustainable agriculture questions at 800-346-9140 or e-mail us at askanag@ncat.org. Our two dozen specialists can help you with a vast array of topics, everything from farm planning to pest management, from produce to livestock, and soils to aquaculture.
You can get in touch with NCAT/ATTRA specialists and find our other extensive, and free, sustainable-agriculture publications, webinars, videos, and other resources at NCAT/ATTRA’s website.
You can also stay in touch with NCAT at its Facebook page.
