Shows
ATTRA - Voices from the FieldBiochar and NCAT’s SIFT FarmIn this episode of Voices from the Field, NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Specialists Andrew Coggins and John Wallace talk about biochar and NCAT’s use of biochar in its Small-Scale Intensive Farm Training (SIFT) program. John runs NCAT’s SIFT farm at the nonprofit’s headquarters in Butte, Montana.SIFT does sustainable agriculture trials at the farm, including some that have focusedon biochar. John and Andrew talk about renewed interest in biochar as a meansof sequestering carbon and as a soil amendment and even a possible soil enhancement. Related ATTRA Resource...
2023-07-2628 minATTRA - Voices from the FieldHow to Conserve Water at an Urban, Mountain Desert FarmNCAT’s headquarters in Butte, Montana, has a complicated growing climate to say the least. That makes John Wallace’s job as farm manager of NCAT’s Small-Scale Intensive Farm Training program – or SIFT – challenging as well. In this episode of Voices from the Field, John talks with NCAT Energy Analyst Victorian Smart about the SIFT farm’s strategies for conserving water. Since the farm is located in what is essentially a high mountain desert and relies on city water, those strategies are essential, as is increasing organic matter in its decomposed-granite soil. ATTRA Resources...
2022-05-1316 minATTRA - Voices from the FieldFlexibility in an Unexpected Growing SeasonIn this episode of Voices from the Field, two agriculture specialists who work out of NCAT's headquarters in Butte, Montana, talk about responding to the unexpectedly dry and hot conditions of this year's growing season.NCAT's Small-Scale Intensive Farm Training program (SIFT) operates a high-altitude urban demonstration farm in Butte. Farm manager John Wallace and NCAT Rocky Mountain West Regional Director Andrew Coggins give an update on the changes in crops, pest management, and growing strategies the season brought, and their efforts to work with, not against, the changes.Related ATTRA Resources:SIFT...
2021-08-2625 minATTRA - Voices from the FieldSIFT Farm's Unusual Year. Part 2.SIFT — or Small-Scale Intensive Farm Training program — aims to help communities increase their food security by producing their own healthy food. SIFT, with NCAT, has a working, sustainably managed, demonstration farm on five acres at our Butte office.This farm is the center of a program that teaches farmers and future farmers, urban food producers, community leaders, and citizens how to produce high-value, nutrient-rich food on small parcels of land. And in Butte's case, in a challenging climate.John and Andrew talk about the farm's educational capacity and what its research has shown concerning maximizing grow...
2020-10-1424 minATTRA - Voices from the FieldSIFT Farm's Unusual YearIn this episode, Andrew Coggins, director of the National Center for Appropriate Technology's Rocky Mountain West office, has a conversation with farm manager John Wallace about the unusual growing season so far at NCAT's SIFT Farm.Both Andrew and John work out of Butte, Montana.SIFT -- or Small-Scale Intensive Farm Training program -- aims to help communities increase their food security by producing their own healthy food. SIFT, with NCAT, has a working, sustainably managed, demonstration farm on five acres at our Butte office.This farm is the center of a program...
2020-08-2017 minATTRA - Voices from the FieldSeed Saving – What Beginners Need to KnowIn this episode, John Wallace, manager of NCAT's SIFT farm, talks with Robin Kelson of the Good Seed Company in Whitefish, Montana. Robin and John discuss questions that beginning seed savers often have as well as resources that are available for those who want to get into the subject in more depth. The SIFT – or Small-Scale Intensive Farm Training – farm is part of NCAT's ATTRA sustainable agriculture program and is located NCAT's headquarters in Butte, Montana.For more information on this topic, you can contact John Wallace directly at johnw@ncat.org.Related ATTRA Resources:Directory of O...
2019-05-2337 minATTRA - Voices from the FieldCherries and Honeyberries in a Cold ClimateIn 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 wo...
2019-02-1921 min