ATTRA - Voices from the Field

In this episode of Voices from the Field, NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Specialist Felicia Bell is joined by Dr. Ali Rellinger of Mississippi State University. Unpredictable rainfall can impact urban, rural, and agricultural communities alike and together Felicia and Dr. Rellinger discuss strategies for developing flood- and drought-resilient communities. Dr. Rellinger also shares ideas on how producers can improve rainfall capture for their farms by implementing both natural and manmade infrastructure.
 
RESOURCES:
MSU Coastal Extension
 Native Plant Producer Network
MS Sound Estuary Program
MS Water Stewards
 
This podcast is produced by the National Center for Appropriate Technology through the ATTRA Sustainable Agriculture program under a cooperative agreement with USDA Rural Development.

In this episode of ATTRA’s Voices from the Field Podcast, NCAT Senior Manager Tammy Howard visits with Elliot Smith, co-founder of Kitchen Sync Strategies (KSS). KSS started in 2019 to help connect more people to nourishing, impactful food and connect more big buyers with local producers. KSS has been an important partner in NCAT’s Bringing the Farm to School through New Connections project, which Tammy manages. Elliot shares how KSS supports the farm to school and institution supply chain, the role of brokers in the producer/buyer business relationship, and some exciting success stories around the development of food hub networks.
This podcast is produced by the National Center for Appropriate Technology through the ATTRA Sustainable Agriculture program under a cooperative agreement with USDA Rural Development.

In this episode of ATTRA's Voices from the Field, NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Specialist Rex Dufour leads a lively discussion with Helen Atthowe, a long-time organic farmer who has farmed in Montana, California, and Oregon. Helen and her late husband, Carl Rosato, co-owned and operated a certified organic orchard in California where they pioneered methods for raising tree fruits without the use of pesticides. In this conversation, Helen shares her life-long passion for on-farm research, which includes ecological weed and insect management and managing living mulches for improving and maintaining healthy soil. Helen is the author of "The Ecological Farm: A Minimalist No-Till, No-Spray, Selective-Weeding, Grow-Your-Own-Fertilizer System for Organic Agriculture," available through Chelsea Green Publishing.
Resources:
The Ecological Farm
This podcast is produced by the National Center for Appropriate Technology through the ATTRA Sustainable Agriculture program under a cooperative agreement with USDA Rural Development.

In this episode of ATTRA’s Voice from the Field, NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Specialist Darron Gaus interviews Dr. Dirk Philipp, an associate professor at the University of Arkansas. Dirk’s expertise in agronomy and tropical agriculture shapes his understanding of why restoring native prairies matters to agricultural producers.
Darron and Dirk discuss how producers can seed prairie grasses for successful restoration as well as discuss common issues producers can expect such as weed pressure, seedbed preparation, and weather.
Dirk offers practical advice on what separates successful restorations from unsuccessful ones and what producers should consider before they plant their first acre of native grass species.
Learn More: https://www.ncat.org/?post_type=podcast&p=17371&preview=true

In this episode of ATTRA’s Voices from the Field, NCAT Agriculture Specialist Nina Prater talks with Sneha Haridas, a 4th year PhD candidate and Graduate Research Assistant at West Virginia University about her research on dung beetles.
Dung beetles are important for nutrient cycling and improving soil, pasture, and livestock health, but in some regions their populations have declined. Sneha has been researching ways to help livestock producers in West Virginia figure out how to increase the numbers and diversity of dung beetles on their farms – including looking at the best ways to make a dung beetle nursery.
*Correction on a fact stated in the episode: Northeast India is part of two* world biodiversity hotspots, not three, as Sneha accidentally stated. 
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Episode Webpage: https://www.ncat.org/?post_type=podcast&p=17115&preview=true 
Additional Resources:
Project Description for “Enhancing Regenerative Agriculture: Implementing Low-Cost Dung Beetle Nurseries for West Virginia Farms”:
Rowen Insect Agroecology Lab
Recent research on the toxicity of different livestock treatments on dung beetles in West Virginia: https://academic.oup.com/ee/article/54/4/865/8198110?guestAccessKey= 
Contact Sneha Haridas with questions: sh00087@mix.wvu.edu