Entries by Emilie Ritter

WATCH: How AgriSolar Helped the Cows Come Home to One Northeast Farm

For more than 150 years Knowlton Family Farms in Grafton, Massachusetts has been a family-owned operation. It’s grown and shrunk over the years, and now is back in a period of expansion thanks to combining solar energy production with agriculture. The National Center for Appropriate Technology’s (NCAT) AgriSolar Clearinghouse today released its short film “The […]

NCAT Supports Bipartisan Effort to Expand AgriSolar Research

The National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) applauds Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) for introducing a bill that will expand research for agrivoltaics, or agrisolar, which pairs appropriate farmland with solar energy production. “Expanding agrisolar is all about maximizing our resources to grow both food and renewable energy on the same […]

NCAT’s Free Farmer-Veteran Training Headed to Massachusetts

The National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) is partnering with New Entry Sustainable Farming Project (NESFP) to bring NCAT’s free Armed to Farm training to the Bay State for the first time. Armed to Farm will take place July 24-28, 2023, in Danvers, Mass. Farmer-veterans will attend classroom sessions and travel to local farms for hands-on learning experiences. The deadline to apply is June 9. Armed to Farm trainings include […]

How You Can Support Biochar Research

Biochar is one of the most promising tools to build soil organic matter, remove carbon from the atmosphere, and improve soil health. That promise has prompted growing support for federal legislation to increase biochar research.  Biochar is a form of charcoal designed for use in soil. It is produced by heating biomass in the absence […]

NCAT Offers Free Summer Sustainable Growing Series 

The National Center for Appropriate Technology is offering a series of free monthly workshops this summer on how to grow food sustainably. The workshops are from 10 a.m. to noon at NCAT’s Small-Scale Intensive Farm Training (SIFT) demonstration farm at the nonprofit’s headquarters, located at 3040 Continental Drive in Butte. May 13: Preparing Your Organic […]

Leading Agricultural Organizations Say Biochar Promise Can Be Realized When Government, Research, NGOs and Industry Come Together

American Farmland Trust, the National Center for Appropriate Technology and the U.S. Biochar Initiative today released Recommendations to Scale Up Sustainable Biochar Research and Commercialization for Agriculture and Conservation, which outlines actions to facilitate the development of a sustainable industry to supply biochar as a crop and grazing land amendment for farmers. Investment in research, production capacity, market mechanisms, outreach, and […]

WATCH: AgriSolar Partnerships Bloom in Minnesota

Minnesota energy companies, solar developers, farmers, and chefs are partnering in innovative ways to grow food, renewable energy, and pollinator habitat all within the same piece of land. The National Center for Appropriate Technology’s (NCAT) AgriSolar Clearinghouse today released its short film “Dive into the Prairie,” which takes viewers on a short tour of Minnesota’s agrivoltaic […]