ATTRA - Voices from the Field

In this episode, Lee Rinehart, a specialist with NCAT's ATTRA sustainable agriculture program, takes a break during the 2019 Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture Conference to talk with commercial fisherman Steve Kurian.

Steve is the owner of Wild for Salmon, which directly markets fresh and frozen wild salmon caught in Bristol Bay, Alaska.

Lee, who works out of NCAT's Northeast Regional Office in Keene New Hampshire, introduces Steve, followed by a conversation about sustainable fishing practices and their effect on waterfront communities. They also discuss Steve's business model, including a Community Supported Fishery, similar to the Community Supported Agriculture – or CSA – that many small agriculture producers offer.

If you would like more information on this topic, you can contact Lee Rinehart directly via email at [email protected].

Related ATTRA Resources

Ecological Fisheries and Ocean Farming

Ocean Farming: A Conversation with Bren Smith

Other Resources

Wild for Salmon website

Wild for Salmon Facebook

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, NCAT community foods outreach specialist Daniel Prial, and Andy Pressman, director of NCAT's Northeast Region office in Keene, New Hampshire, talk to Atina Diffley, author of Turn Here Sweet Corn: Organic Farming Works, a 2013 Minnesota Book Award winner.

Both Andy and Daniel work with NCAT's ATTRA sustainable agriculture program.

Atina is a Minnesota organic farmer and public speaker. Turn Here Sweet Corn: Organic Farming Works is a memoir based on Atina's life running the Gardens of Eagan organic vegetable farm. Her advocacy has addressed the pressures of suburban development, and she successfully led a legal and citizen campaign opposing Koch Industries to create an organic mitigation plan for organic farms in Minnesota.

Andy and Daniel have a wide-ranging discussion on organic production with Atina, touching on intermediary markets, the links between risk management and crop diversity, strategies for scaling up production, pricing, labor, the history of the organic movement, and more.

Related ATTRA Resources

Organic Farming

Scaling Up Your Vegetable Farm for Regional Markets

Scaling Up for Regional Markets

On Farm Food Safety and FSMA

Sustainable Farming Internships and Apprenticeships

Beginning Farmer Tutorials

Positive Practices in Farm Labor Management

Tips for Selling to: Wholesale Buyers at Terminal Markets

Scheduling Vegetable Plantings for Continuous Harvest

Other Resources

Atina Diffley website (including information on purchasing Turn Here Sweet Corn: Organic Farming Works)

Family Farmed

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 podcast, Robert Maggiani, a sustainable agriculture specialist with NCAT's ATTRA sustainable agriculture program, talks with Juan Raygoza about his farm in South Texas.

Juan moved to the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas in 2007 with little money. His goal was to farm vegetables for his family. At first he borrowed land to farm, and then was able to purchase seven acres with the help of a USDA loan and is now owner of Terra Preta Farm in Edinburg, Texas. NCAT has worked with him on several projects over the past five years and helped get his farm certified organic.

Juan talks about the challenges of starting from scratch to become a farmer in an underserved community.

Robert is a sustainable agriculture specialist with NCAT's ATTRA sustainable agriculture program in NCAT's Southwest Regional Office in San Antonio, TX.

Resources mentioned in this podcast:

Juan Raygoza's farm website

ATTRA Resources:

Videos

Urban Farms: Commercial Farms or Socially-Minded Operations?

Crop Planning for Vegetable Farmers

Farm to Hospital in the Rio Grande Valley: Getting Ready

Pubs

Feasibility Study for a Texas Organic Food Hub

Community Supported Agriculture

Federal Conservation Resources for Sustainable Farming and Ranching

Basic Accounting: Guidance for Beginning Farmers

Food Hubs: A Producer's Guide

Scaling Up Your Vegetable Farm for Regional Markets

Organic Specialty Crop Production in Texas: A Grower's Handbook

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 /

In this episode, Sue Beckwith and Mike Morris, co-authors of the new book Beyond Fresh: a Food Processing Guide for Texas Farmers, discuss the book and the issues it addresses.

The book, a workbook, is focused mostly on Texas farmers, helping them decide whether they should move beyond just selling fresh and whole fruits and vegetables by trying to create and sell value-added food products.

Beyond Fresh isn't a how-to book for creating particular products. Rather, it looks at product development, storage and distribution, regulations, labeling, market trends and more - as part of determining whether a product will be profitable for the producer.

A team of farmers, economists, and food experts led by the National Center for Appropriate Technology studied opportunities in Texas to create value-added food products from sustainably-grown fruits and vegetables, and created this workbook.

Though the information is derived from the market in Texas, its benefits are easily transferable to producers in other states.

If you would like more information on this topic, you can contact Mike Morris at [email protected].

Related ATTRA Resources

Beyond Fresh: A Food Process Guide for Texas Farmers

ATTRA: Value-Added Food Products

Other Resources

Texas Center for Local Food

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 hear a conversation between Rockiell Woods, director of NCAT's Gulf States Regional Office in Jackson, Mississippi, and Sam Humphrey, director of the NCAT Demonstration Farm at Piney Woods School near Jackson. The purpose of the farm is to give hands-on training to farmers and producers in the region, as well as to the students of Piney Woods.

This Demonstration Farm is part of Mississippi Food Justice Collaborative, NCAT's multifaceted food-justice project, which is working to improve access to healthy, culturally appropriate food for historically disadvantaged communities throughout Mississippi. It's funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Rockiell, a sustainable agriculture specialist with NCAT's ATTRA sustainable agriculture program, asks Sam about his crop-planning process for the farm, which markets produce both to the school and through a community supported agriculture (CSA) subscription.

They talk about how to start developing a crop plan and its importance for both production and marketing.

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

Related ATTRA Resources

Scheduling Vegetable Plantings for Continuous Harvest

ATTRA: Voices from the Field: Crop Planning and Labor Costs

ATTRA Beginning Farmer Tutorials

Sustainable Farming Internships and Apprenticeships

Gulf States Regional Office: Website / Facebook

NCAT Demonstration Farm:
Instagram

Other Resources
W.K. Kellogg Foundation Website

The Piney Woods School Facebook

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 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.

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 /

In this podcast, Tammy Howard, a horticulture specialist with NCAT's ATTRA sustainable-agriculture program, talks with Anna Elbon and Kim Gilchrist about their low-income local-food access work with farms and farmers markets in Montana.

Kim Gilchrist is a food access program manager at the Community Food and Agriculture Coalition in Missoula, Montana. She helped start the Double SNAP Dollar program which is a SNAP incentive program for farms, farmers markets, and some retail locations throughout Montana.

Tammy works at NCAT's headquarters in Butte, Montana.

Resources mentioned in this podcast:

Zenger Farm's "The CSA Farmer's Nationwide Guide to Accepting SNAP/EBT Payments"

Double SNAP Dollars

Wholesome Wave

Double Up and the Fair Food Network

Fair Food Network

ATTRA Resources

Outreach Tips for Farms that Accept SNAP Payments for CSAs

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 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.

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, Kara Kroeger, a sustainable agriculture specialist with the NCAT ATTRA sustainable agriculture program, talks with Kate Greenberg – who at the time was the acting Western program director of the National Young Farmers Coalition and chair of the board of the Quivira Coalition.

Kate has since left those positions to become the Colorado Agriculture Commissioner.

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

Their discussion was recorded during the recent "Regenerate" Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which was sponsored by the Quivira Coalition, Holistic Management International, and the American Grass-Fed Association.

Kara and Kate have a wide-ranging conversation about the demographics in American agriculture, including the growing number of young people who are interested in becoming farmers, their diversity, and the obstacles they face. Kate talks about the National Young Farmer's Coalition – how it works and some of the recent state-level policy changes it has been involved in.

For more information on this topic, you can contact Kara Kroger directly at [email protected]

Related ATTRA Resources

Sustainable Farming Internships and Apprenticeships

Beginning Farmer tutorials

Funding Opportunities

On-Farm Food Safety and FSMA

Social Media Tools for Farm Product Marketing

Using Social Media to Grow Your Farm Business

Using Instagram to Grow Your Farm Business

Using Facebook to Grow Your Farm Business

Getting Started in Farming: an Introduction to Farm Business Planning

Other Resources Mentioned in the Podcast

National Young Farmers Coalition

Quivira Coalition

Holistic Management International

American Grassfed Association

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 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.

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

Southwest Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Western Re

In this episode, Felicia Bell, an agricultural specialist with NCAT's ATTRA sustainable agriculture program, talks with Dr. Ayanava Mujamdar, an entomology and plant pathology Extension Service specialist at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama.

Felicia works out of the NCAT Gulf States Office in Jackson, Mississippi.

Dr. A, as he's known, talks about creating an Integrated Pest Management plan for organic operations that takes into account conditions in the southern states. He talks about a three-step method of organic pest control - cultural practices, exclusion methods, and finally organic bio-insecticides – as well as specific strategies for each. He also emphasizes proper management, equipment, and techniques and talks about resources available to farmers.

For more information on this topic, you can contact Felicia Bell directly at [email protected]

Related ATTRA Resources:

Tipsheet: Organic Pest Management

Companion Planting & Botantical Pesticides: Concepts & Resources

Organic IPM Field Guide

Other Resources Mentioned in the Podcast

Dr. Mujamdar's email address [email protected]

Alabama Extension's Beginning Farmer Program website

Alabama Extension Commercial Horticulture Facebook

Alabama Vegetable IPM Facebook

Alabama Beginning Farmer Slide Charts and Field Guides

Alabama Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association Facebook

IPM Communicator Newsletter and Blog

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.

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

In this episode, Margo Hale, NCAT's Southeast Regional Director, has a conversation with farmer Terrell "Spence" Spencer about his poultry-processing facility.

Margo is a livestock specialist with NCAT's ATTRA sustainable-agriculture program at NCAT's Southeast office in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Spence is a pastured-poultry producer in northwest Arkansas, raising nearly 12,000 broilers on pasture each year. He shares the challenges he has faced in regard to finding a reliable processor for his chickens and how that led to him opening a poultry-processing facility.

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

Resources Mentioned in the Podcast

Across the Creek Farm Facebook page

American Pastured Poultry Producers Association website

You also can find Spence's podcast, The Fighting Farmer, on your favorite podcast app/service.

Related ATTRA Resources:

Small Poultry Processing Plants and Services

Small-Scale Poultry Processing

Poultry Processing

Veteran 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, videos and other resources at NCAT/ATTRA's website.

You also can stay in touch with NCAT at its Facebook page.

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, Andrew Coggins, the Sustainable Agriculture Project Coordinator with NCAT ATTRA's SIFT - Small-Scale Intensive Farm Training program - talks with John Wallace, who manages NCAT's SIFT farm.

Andrew and John are both specialists with NCAT's ATTRA - the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service – and work at NCAT's headquarters in Butte, Montana, where the SIFT farm is located.

Butte is in a USDA zone 3 area, and its cold climate and short growing season can be...let's just say challenging.

Starting in 2017, the SIFT farm began growing fruit bushes to see which would thrive best in Butte, including several varieties of cherries and a relatively new species in Montana — honeyberries.

Andrew and John talk about their plans for continuing the project and what they've learned so far.

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

Resources Mentioned in the Podcast

NCAT/ATTRA's SIFT farm Website

Honeyberry USA

Some Related ATTRA Resources:

Cherries: Organic Production

ATTRA Identification Sheet: Cherry Insect Pests

ATTRA Identification Sheet: Cherry Diseases

High Tunnel Fruit and Grape Production for Eastern Growers

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.

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