Series of Virtual Sustainable Agriculture Workshops Now Online

By Nina Prater, Sustainable Agriculture Specialist

Our NCAT Gulf States team has been working hard throughout the pandemic to provide quality technical assistance to farmers that we’re known for. Instead of meeting with farmers in-person, we shifted to virtual events. In-person on-farm workshops will always be our favorite way to teach, but we found that there are benefits to embracing the virtual platform. One significant benefit was that we were able to record these virtual workshops and share them with a national audience.

As we wrap up a multi-year project in partnership with The Piney Woods School and USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service that started pre-pandemic, we are happy to share the videos and recorded virtual workshops we created as we adapted to changing conditions. The goals of this project were to highlight the excellent work being done at The Piney Woods School Demonstration Farm, which NCAT has assisted with through the Mississippi Food Justice Collaborative, and to highlight the services that NRCS can provide to farmers. This project had a unique audience – we reached out to area farmers and students at The Piney Woods School, bringing together high school students and experienced farmers to learn about sustainable agriculture.

The workshops covered a wide range of topics including soil health and composting, adaptive grazing, the power of pollinators, and opportunities in organic farming. Students and farmers were able to learn from and interact with experts from around the country. Below is a compilation of the videos and recordings we captured as part of this project. We are excited that this information will reach even more students and farmers around the country on NCAT’s ATTRA – Sustainable Agriculture Program website and on our popular NCAT-ATTRA YouTube channel.

• Adaptive Grazing with Allen Williams
• Organic Production with Vicki Morrone: Part 1
• Organic Production and Cover Crops with Vicki Morrone: Part 2
• Soil Health and Composting with Nina Prater and Matt Casteel

This blog post was produced by the National Center for Appropriate Technology through the ATTRA Sustainable Agriculture program, under a cooperative agreement with USDA Rural Development. The video series also was supported a grant from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service as part of The Piney Woods School Sustainable Farming Outreach Project. The workshops were hosted in partnership with the Piney Woods School in Piney Woods, Mississippi. ATTRA.NCAT.ORG.