ATTRA - Voices from the Field

In this podcast, Jeff Schahczenski, agricultural and natural resource specialist with NCAT, has a conversation with Marty Mesh of Mesh and Associates of Gainesville, Florida about the current and future development of organic production in the South.

While certified organic farming and ranching has been expanding nationwide, its growth in the southern United States has been much slower. In this episode, Jeff and Marty explore many reasons for this slower growth.

Marty Mesh is a leader in organic agriculture in the south and nationwide. A pioneer, visionary, and expert in organic agriculture and food systems, Marty began organic production in 1972. Four years later, he helped found the Bellevue Gardens Organic Farm, which made its reputation by growing and selling much-beloved and sought after organic watermelons nationwide. In 1987 he co-founded Florida Organic Growers and Quality Certification Services in Gainesville, Florida and served as its Executive Director for over 30 years. In 2004, Marty was named one of the twenty "Most Influential People Developing the Organic Industry," and in 2014 the Organic Trade Association awarded him the "Growing the Organic Industry" Award.

Marty has helped start, and has served on, Boards of many organizations, including: the Organic Certifiers Council (OCC), Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (SSAWG), Accredited Certifiers Association (ACA), Organic Trade Association (OTA), Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI), National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), Agricultural Justice Project (AJP), The Organic Center (TOC), and many others. Most recently, Marty has worked with Farm Aid connecting farmers around the country with legal, financial, and mental health resources, as well as, with the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) on a project researching the question, "Is Organic Farming Risky?"

Now, Mesh and Associates, LLC continues the work Marty has been committed to for well over 40 years. The diverse team collaborates on a variety of efforts that include national organic research initiatives and local community food projects, always with a focus on increasing opportunities for organic agriculture and farmers and creating socially just food and agricultural systems.

For more information on this topic, you can contact Jeff Schahczenski directly at [email protected].

ATTRA Resources:
Farmscaping to Enhance Biological Control
Guide for Organic Crop Producers
Cover Crop Options for Hot and Humid Areas
Cover Crop (340) in Organic Systems
Nutrient Management Plan (590) for Organic Systems
Organic Crop Production Overview
Tip Sheet: Crop Rotation in Organic Farming Systems
Companion Planting and Botanical Pesticides: Concepts and Resources

Please call ATTRA with any and all of your sustainable agriculture questions at 1-800-346-9140 or e-mail us at [email protected]. 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, vide

oday's episode is the second in an ATTRA: Voices from the Field ongoing series on Direct Marketing Meat. Linda Coffey, a livestock specialist with NCAT's ATTRA sustainable-agriculture program, follows up on a listener's question by interviewing fellow NCAT ATTRA livestock specialist Dave Scott and his wife, Jenny, about their direct-marketing meat business, Montana Highland Lamb.

Linda works out of NCAT's Southeast Regional office in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and Dave is on the staff at NCAT's headquarters in Butte, Montana.

In the previous episode, Dave and Jenny shared their farm story, and we focused on the marketing aspect of their business. In this episode, the focus is on processing. Processing is critical for Dave and Jenny's business and for others raising livestock for meat. Topics in this episode include finding a processor and the important criteria when looking for a processor; communication and building a great relationship; scheduling appointments; handling drop off and pickup; and managing and tracking inventory, storage, and orders.

Please let us know what further questions you'd like answered in the Direct Marketing Meat series.

For more information on this topic, you can contact Dave Scott at [email protected] and Linda Coffey at [email protected].

Related ATTRA Resources:
Direct Marketing Lamb: A Pathway
Putting a Hand on Them: How to Tell When Your Lamb is Finished (Publication)
Putting a Hand on Them: How to Tell When Your Lamb is Finished (Video)
Lamb Cut Guide for Direct Marketers
Creating an Excellent Relationship with Your Lamb Processor
The Lambulator: A Cut-Yield Calculator
ATTRA YouTube Channel, Livestock and Pasture
Working with Your Meat Processor

Other Resources
Montana Highland Lamb Facebook

Please call ATTRA with any and all of your sustainable agriculture questions at 1-800-346-9140 or e-mail us at [email protected]. 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 also can stay in touch with NCAT at its Facebook page.

Keep up with NCAT/ATTRA's SIFT farm at its website.

Also check out NCAT's Regional Offices' websites and Facebook Pages!

Southwest Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Western Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Rocky Mountain West Regional Office: Facebook

Gulf States Regional Office:

ATTRA: Voices from the Field is taking a bit of a holiday break this week to celebrate Thanksgiving with friends and family. We sincerely hope that everyone has a terrific holiday. Next week, we'll be back with the second in the Direct Marketing Meat series. In it, Linda Coffey and Dave Scott, both livestock specialists with NCAT's ATTRA sustainable agriculture program, along with Dave's wife, Jenny, will talk about the always important issue of processing.

In the meantime, don't miss the chance to register for the inaugural Soil Health Innovations Conference, March 30-31 in Bozeman, Montana, on the campus of Montana State University.

You'll hear farmers and ranchers from around the country tell their stories on achieving soil health profitably, along with the perspectives of scientists, private companies and other experts.

Some of the topics that will be covered at the Conference include:

• The connection between soil health and water management
• Building healthy soil on a large scale
• Regenerative grazing practices AND
• New markets for soil carbon sequestration

To register and for more information: https://soilinnovations.ncat.org/

ATTRA Resources:
ATTRA: Voices from the Field archive

Please call ATTRA with any and all of your sustainable agriculture questions at 1-800-346-9140 or e-mail us at [email protected]. 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 also can stay in touch with NCAT at its Facebook page.

Keep up with NCAT/ATTRA's SIFT farm at its website.

Also check out NCAT's Regional Offices' websites and Facebook Pages!

Southwest Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Western Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Rocky Mountain West Regional Office: Facebook

Gulf States Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Southeast Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Northeast Regional Office: Website / Facebook

This episode is the first of an occasional ATTRA: Voices from the Field series on Direct Marketing Meat. Linda Coffey, a livestock specialist with NCAT's ATTRA sustainable-agriculture program, follows up on a listener's question by interviewing fellow NCAT ATTRA livestock specialist Dave Scott and his wife, Jenny, about their direct-marketing meat business, Montana Highland Lamb.

Linda works out of NCAT's Southeast Regional office in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and Dave is on the staff at NCAT's headquarters in Butte, Montana.

Although the listener was asking about lamb, and both Dave and Jenny produce lamb, this series will be useful for anyone direct marketing meat.

Dave and Jenny discuss their business and how it evolved, how to produce an excellent product and reach out to customers, how to keep customers, and the pros and cons of various marketing venues they've used. They talk about their partnership, and how important it is to have help – it's not a one-person show. And they share lessons learned.

The next episode of ATTRA: Voices from the Field will address the important topic of processing as the Direct Marketing Meat series continues.

For more information on this topic, you can contact Dave Scott at [email protected] and Linda Coffey at [email protected].

Related ATTRA Resources:
Direct Marketing Lamb: A Pathway
Putting a Hand on Them: How to Tell When Your Lamb is Finished (Publication)
Putting a Hand on Them: How to Tell When Your Lamb is Finished (Video)
Lamb Cut Guide for Direct Marketers
Creating an Excellent Relationship with Your Lamb Processor
The Lambulator: A Cut-Yield Calculator
ATTRA YouTube Channel, Livestock and Pasture
Working with Your Meat Processor

Other Resources
Montana Highland Lamb Facebook

Please call ATTRA with any and all of your sustainable agriculture questions at 1-800-346-9140 or e-mail us at [email protected]. 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 also can stay in touch with NCAT at its Facebook page.

Keep up with NCAT/ATTRA's SIFT farm at its website.

Also check out NCAT's Regional Offices' websites and Facebook Pages!

Southwest Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Western Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Rocky Mountain West Regional Office: Facebook

Gulf States Regional Office:

In this episode, Lee Rinehart, a sustainable agriculture specialist with NCAT's ATTRA sustainable-agriculture program, talks with world renowned rancher and grazing educator Allen Williams.

Lee, who works out of NCAT's Northeast Regional Office in Keene, N.H., and Allen talk about what Allen calls adaptive stewardship management grazing and how it could increase the supply of livestock on the market as it helps solve many issues currently associated with animal agriculture.

For more information on this topic, you can contact Lee Rinehart directly at [email protected].

Related ATTRA Resources:
Nutrient Cycling in Pastures
Building Healthy Pasture Soils
Soils and Compost
Grazing Resources
Livestock and Pasture

Other Resources
Understanding Ag website

Please call ATTRA with any and all of your sustainable agriculture questions at 1-800-346-9140 or e-mail us at [email protected]. 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 also can stay in touch with NCAT at its Facebook page.

Keep up with NCAT/ATTRA's SIFT farm at its website.

Also check out NCAT's Regional Offices' websites and Facebook Pages!

Southwest Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Western Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Rocky Mountain West Regional Office: Facebook

Gulf States Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Southeast Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Northeast Regional Office: Website / Facebook

In this episode, Margo Hale, director of NCAT's Southeast Regional Office in Fayetteville, Arkansas, interviews Lauren Stine, a beginning farmer in Northwest Arkansas. Lauren shares how she went from being a lawyer in California to raising goats in Arkansas. She talks about the keys to her success, obstacles she has faced, and the resources that have helped her. Lauren also explains the ways she is educating others about pastured-based livestock production.

For more information on this topic, you can contact Margo Hale directly at [email protected].

Related ATTRA Resources:
ATTRA Farm Start-Up resources
ATTRA Internship Database
Farm Business Start-Up Checksheet
Getting Started in Farming Tutorial
Using Social Media to Grow Your Farm Business video
Using Facebook to Grow Your Farm Business video
Using Instagram to Grow Your Farm Business video

Other Resources
Lauren Stine's farm on Instagram
Ozark Pasture Beef website
"Are You Truly Ready to Buy a Farm?" article
"Beginning Farmers Identify Three Barriers" article
Sacred Cow website
Southern SAWG Conference—Raising, Finishing and Marketing Pasture-Raised Meat Short Course

Please call ATTRA with any and all of your sustainable agriculture questions at 1-800-346-9140 or e-mail us at [email protected]. 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 also can stay in touch with NCAT at its Facebook page.

Keep up with NCAT/ATTRA's SIFT farm at its website.

Also check out NCAT's Regional Offices' websites and Facebook Pages!

Southwest Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Western Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Rocky Mountain West Regional Office: Facebook

Gulf States Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Southeast Regional Office:

This podcast is part of a Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education project for integrating livestock with crops.

In this episode, Dave Scott, livestock specialist at NCAT's Rocky Mountain West Office in Butte, Montana, has a conversation with Roy Benjamin, a farmer of nearly 20,000 acres in Devon, Montana.

For the past few years, Roy has been integrating livestock with his crops. In this episode, you'll hear about his experience with his operation and lessons he has learned.

Before we get started, I'd like to point out that towards the end of the podcast, when Roy is talking about his water sources, he mentions a map of his farm. We have included a link below to a video of Roy referring this map.

For more information on this topic, you can contact Dave Scott directly at [email protected].

Related ATTRA Resources:
Integrating Livestock and Crops: Improving Soil, Solving Problems, Increasing Income
Food Safety Considerations for Integrating Livestock into Produce Cropping Systems
Soil Health and Livestock: ATTRA Resources
Grazier's Math: Matching Forage to Animal Demand
Video of Roy Benjamin showing a map of his farm and water sources from the podcast.

Please call ATTRA with any and all of your sustainable agriculture questions at 1-800-346-9140 or e-mail us at [email protected]. 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 also can stay in touch with NCAT at its Facebook page.

Keep up with NCAT/ATTRA's SIFT farm at its website.

Also check out NCAT's Regional Offices' websites and Facebook Pages!

Southwest Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Western Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Rocky Mountain West Regional Office: Facebook

Gulf States Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Southeast Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Northeast Regional Office: Website / Facebook

COMING SOON!
The National Center for Appropriate Technology, in cooperation with USDA Rural Development, Montana State University, and Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (WSARE), is pleased to announce the 1st Annual Soil Health Innovations Conference. This national conference will be held at Montana State University on March 30 and 31, 2020.

The 2020 Soil Hea

In this episode, Andrew Coggins, NCAT's Rocky Mountain West Regional Director and a specialist based in Butte, Montana, with NCAT's ATTRA sustainable-agriculture program, talks with Alexis Bonogofsky, Northern Coordinator of the Quivira Coalition's New Agrarian program.

Alexis discusses the New Agrarian program, which supports apprenticeships and mentors in agriculture. The Quivira Coalition recently brought the program to Montana for the first time.

For more information on this topic, you can contact Andrew Coggins directly at [email protected].

Related ATTRA Resources:
List of Internships
Beginning Farmer

Other Resources:
Quivira Coalition website
Quivira Coalition Facebook page
Mannix Brothers Ranch website
Vilicus Farms website

Please call ATTRA with any and all of your sustainable agriculture questions at 1-800-346-9140 or e-mail us at [email protected]. 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 also can stay in touch with NCAT at its Facebook page.

Keep up with NCAT/ATTRA's SIFT farm at its website.

Also check out NCAT's Regional Offices' websites and Facebook Pages!

Southwest Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Western Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Rocky Mountain West Regional Office: Facebook

Gulf States Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Southeast Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Northeast Regional Office: Website / Facebook

In this episode of "Scaling Up," an occasional series at ATTRA, Rockiell Woods, director of NCAT's Gulf States Regional Office in Jackson, Mississippi, talks with Dr. Bill Evans, Director of Horticulture at Up in Farms Food Hub in Jackson, Mississippi.

Rockiell and Bill discuss land and water considerations when scaling up a farm. You'll hear about how to determine the best use for land and the economic feasibility of scaling up. They also talk about the importance of the source and quality of water for your operation.

For more information on this topic, you can contact Rockiell Woods directly at [email protected].

Related ATTRA Resources:
Scaling Up Your Vegetable Farm for Regional Markets publication
Scaling Up for Regional Markets tutorial

Other Resources:
National Resources Conservation Service: Web Soil Survey

Please call ATTRA with any and all of your sustainable agriculture questions at 1-800-346-9140 or e-mail us at [email protected]. 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 also can stay in touch with NCAT at its Facebook page.

Keep up with NCAT/ATTRA's SIFT farm at its website.

Also check out NCAT's Regional Offices' websites and Facebook Pages!

Southwest Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Western Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Rocky Mountain West Regional Office: Facebook

Gulf States Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Southeast Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Northeast Regional Office: Website / Facebook

In this episode, we introduce Texas Sized Sustainable Pasture Operations, a new occasional series on ATTRA: Voices from the Field.

Colin Mitchell, a sustainable agriculture specialist with NCAT's ATTRA sustainable-agriculture program, hosts Cameron Molberg, owner and operator of a larger-scale organic and pastured chicken operation, Greener Pastures Chicken, located in Elgin, Texas.

Colin works out of NCAT's Southwest Regional Office in San Antonio, Texas.

Cameron and Colin discuss Cameron's experiences and what he's learned that has allowed him to create a sustainable and efficient system that produces healthy chickens and a quality meat product at a large scale.

Cameron gives the listener an idea of a chicken's life on his farm from the day it arrives to the day it ends up on the plate. He also discusses his participation in the Real Organic Project and the Regenerative Organic Certification.

For more information on this topic, you can contact Colin Mitchell directly at [email protected].

Related ATTRA Resources:
Poultry resource page

Other Resources:
Greener Pastures Chicken website
Greener Pastures Chicken Facebook
Real Organic Project
Regenerative Organic Certified

Please call ATTRA with any and all of your sustainable agriculture questions at 1-800-346-9140 or e-mail us at [email protected]. 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 also can stay in touch with NCAT at its Facebook page.

Keep up with NCAT/ATTRA's SIFT farm at its website.

Also check out NCAT's Regional Offices' websites and Facebook Pages!

Southwest Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Western Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Rocky Mountain West Regional Office: Facebook

Gulf States Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Southeast Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Northeast Regional Office: Website / Facebook