In this episode of Voices from the Field, NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Specialist Darron Gaus joins Peggy Sechrist, a pioneer in the organic beef industry in Texas and a long-time Holistic Management International educator.

Darron, who is based in Victoria, Texas, co-leads a working group with Peggy in Texas as part of NCAT’s Soil for Water Southern SARE project. That project includes some great conversations with members of the working group – a four-state team of producers, scientists, and universities trying to key in on some of the barriers keeping more operations from adopting regenerative grazing methods.

Today’s conversation is between Peggy and Jenny Pluhar, Executive Director of the Texas Grazing Land Coalition, and ranch manager for Taylor Ranches in the panhandle of Texas. She is also the co-author of the book Texas Range Plants. Jenny details her work with the Texas Grazing Land Coalition and the new project the coalition is working on, called “Principles Before Practices.”

Related ATTRA Resources:

· Livestock

· Climate Solutions

· Soil

Related NCAT Resources:

· Soil for Water

Other Resources:

· AG Proud

· Texas Grazing Land Coalition

· Texas Grazing Land Coalition Facebook page

· U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef

· Texas Range Plants

Contact Darron Gaus at darrong@ncat.org.

Please complete a brief survey to let us know your thoughts about the content of this podcast.

You can get in touch with NCAT/ATTRA specialists and find access to our trusted, practical sustainable-agriculture publications, webinars, videos, and other
resources at ATTRA.NCAT.ORG.

In this episode of Voices from the Field, NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Specialist Gabriella Soto-Velez talks with author and farmer Dani Baker. Since her retirement from another career and subsequent inspiration from an Extension class on permaculture, Dani has become well known for her takes on creating “resilient edible landscapes.” She and Gabriella discuss the benefits that come from realizing that nature knows what it is doing.

Related ATTRA Resources:

· Permaculture

· Climate Change and Perennial Fruit and Nut Production: Investing in Resilience in Uncertain Times

· Weekly Wednesday Workshop: Permaculture 101

Other Resources:

· Home-Scale Forest Garden with Dani Baker preview

· The Home-Scale Forest Garden: How to Plan, Plant, and Tend a Resilient Edible Landscape

· Cross Island Farms

Contact Gabriella Soto-Velez at gabriellas@ncat.org.

Please complete a brief survey to let us know your thoughts about the content of this podcast.

You can get in touch with NCAT/ATTRA specialists and find access to our trusted, practical sustainable-agriculture publications, webinars, videos, and other resources at ATTRA.NCAT.ORG.

In this episode of Voices from the Field, NCAT Northeast Coordinator and Agriculture Specialist Chris Lent talks to Matt Steiman, the Farm Energy and Livestock Manager at Dickinson College Organic Farm in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, about the farm’s new biodigester.

A farm-based biodigester can turn cow manure and food waste into natural gas to produce electricity for the farm to use and to sell to the utility grid.

Matt and Chris discuss Matt’s research over the past 14 years on turning waste streams into biofuels and how that research led to the new biodigester’s design and its installation at the farm.

The discussion covers the unusual scale of the project, which was designed to manage the manure from 150 dairy cows and up to three tons of food waste daily. The project is meant to demonstrate to mid-sized farms across Pennsylvania and elsewhere that it is possible to manage waste streams in an environmentally sound way by
transforming them into a source of carbon-neutral energy.

Related ATTRA Resources:

· Biodiesel Use, Handling, and Fuel Quality

· Micro-Scale Biogas Production: A Beginners Guide

· Anaerobic Digestion of Animal Waters: Factors to Consider

Other Resources:

· Biogas – Dickinson College Organic Farm

· Dickinson College YouTube Channel

· USDA Rural Energy for America Program Renewable Energy Systems & Energy
Efficiency Improvement Guaranteed Loans & Grants

· USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) On-Farm Energy Initiative

Contact Chris Lent at chrisl@ncat.org.

Please complete a brief survey to let us know your thoughts about the content of this podcast.

You can get in touch with NCAT/ATTRA specialists and find access to our trusted,
practical sustainable-agriculture publications, webinars, videos, and other
resources at ATTRA.NCAT.ORG.