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Cozy Up with Wool

By NCAT Conservation Planner Cody Brown and NCAT Senior Conservation Planner Alisha Horak

If the word ‘wool’ conjures up memories of itchy socks and the scratchy blankets your grandparents would pull out when it got cold, it’s time to modernize your view on this warm, soft, functional fiber! Wool has come a long way in recent years. The wool industry has improved processing methods to increase wool’s versatility and comfort, and consumers are loving it, driving the demand for sustainable fibers. In response, the global woolen textiles market, which was valued at 190.4 billion dollars in 2023, is expected to grow almost eight percent every year between now and 2030.

Close-up photo of medium-gray wool sweater.

Wool is a timeless, sustainable fiber that can be used to make comfortable, functional clothes.

The fibers that make up your wardrobe may all make comfortable, useful clothes, but there are growing concerns about a wide range of environmental impacts these different fibers can have. Synthetic fiber’s elasticity, comfort, and cheap cost of production have made it a fierce competitor with natural fibers since the invention of nylon in the 1930s. However, synthetic textiles can lead to microplastic pollution, among other environmental costs. These concerns are starting an industry-wide shift to seek natural fiber sources with verified benefits to land and climate.

The prevalence of synthetics has led to a decline in the American wool industry and the domestic wool processing infrastructure that supported American wool in the past. This caused wool growers to have an increased dependency on volatile international wool markets. To be more profitable, wool producers and domestic wool processors can work together to serve the market of sustainability-interested consumers.

Close-up photo of a cross-section of wool insulation.

Wool insulation is a sustainable alternative to synthetic insulations and a potential market for coarse wool fibers.

Wool isn’t just for clothes, either. The fashion industry and the fine wool producers that support them are seeing an increase in demand for fine wool (i.e., the softest types of wool with the smallest fiber diameter), but medium and coarse wool producers also have opportunities to serve the sustainable fiber market. Medium and coarse wool can be turned into carpets and insulation, replacing synthetic fibers in our homes.

The best part is, when sheep producers use managed grazing techniques, they can actually build soil health and improve the health of the landscape. NCAT has a wide variety of resources available to help farmers and ranchers produce wool in sustainable, ethical ways, so together we can rebuild the American wool market from the soil up.

Producers and consumers both win with wool. It’s a sustainable material for clothing and other products. Wool’s durability, breathability, and insulative properties make it an easy choice when prioritizing the quality of materials. With a growing demand for sustainability across the nation, NCAT aims to empower wool producers through ATTRA’s sustainable agriculture information service, cost-share incentives, conservation plans, and access to new verified fiber markets that benefit the land, producers, and consumers. 

Additional Resources: 

Climate Beneficial Fiber Project

Tips for Marketing Sheep and Goat Products: Fiber

Building the Market for Climate-Beneficial Wool

Climate Beneficial Fiber Partnership: Introduction for Producers

Voices from the Field Podcast Episode 355. Soil-to-Skin: Rebecca Burgess of Fibershed on Building Community

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The Case for Tractor Farming

By Audrey Kolde, NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Specialist

My experience in farming started at the hand-tool scale. I enjoy the physical labor, that tangible connection to the land. But years of repetitive movement have started to catch up with me. My love of farming hasn’t changed as the aches and pains have increased—in fact, it has grown. I want to produce even more food to feed my community. I want to grow crops that are calorie- and nutrient-dense, and store well, like beans, winter squash, sweet potatoes, and dent corn—but these require a lot of land. They are cornerstones of the American diet that small-scale gardens often can’t keep up with.

With these crops in mind, my farming partner and I have started the journey to transition part of our land to tractor farming. It is a work in progress. As two women running a farm, we started to think more about why more women aren’t transitioning from small- to mid-scale operations. Women represent 9% of primary farmers in small-scale farms ($100,000-$350,000) and 5% of primary farmers in mid-scale operations ($350,000-$1,000,000). Women have continued farming in small-scale and traditional systems that involve a lot of manual labor and require physical strength. However, mechanization and technology like tractors offer women the chance to broaden their opportunities in agriculture.

Increase Productivity
One major reason to adopt tractor farming is that it makes it possible to cultivate larger areas in less time, with less hired help, and less backbreaking work. Mechanizing tasks like bed shaping, planting, and cultivation is game-changing. Using tractors increases productivity and efficiency, leading to bigger harvests, better quality produce, and access to lucrative markets that require a larger volume of products.

Improve Profitability
Tractors can make it easier for women to grow their businesses and achieve financial independence, helping to close the gender gap in agricultural productivity and land ownership. According to the 2012 Farm Census, female farmers in the United States earn about 40% less than male farmers. As women earn more, they can reinvest in their businesses by buying more equipment, diversifying their crops, or improving how they market their products. This economic freedom allows women to become successful agricultural entrepreneurs.

Improve Farmer Health
One of the biggest benefits of using a tractor for me is that it reduces the need for so much heavy (and expensive, if hired out) manual labor. I am all too aware of the back pain that planting, weeding, and harvesting crops can lead to. By using tractors, women can better manage their health while increasing their farm’s productivity. Tasks you wouldn’t immediately think of, like moving tarps and weights, are much easier with tractors. I once even moved a walk-behind tractor with a riding tractor.

Improve Conservation Practices
As an added bonus, tractors have so many attachments that can help with conservation practices. Proper tilling and cultivation help with pest management. No-till drills and roller crimpers make cover cropping easier. And the world of precision farming methods, like GPS and sensors, save water, use fewer chemicals, and enhance crop yields with less environmental harm.

Barriers
Unlike seed packets and wheel hoes, financing tractors costs more than a pretty penny. Tractors require capital to purchase, rent, or borrow. Women will likely need to find financial help through affordable loans from institutions such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Service Agency, Women’s Business Center, or the Small Business Administration, or grants through organizations like USDA Rural Development, National Women’s Business Council, RAFI, and American Farmland Trust’s Brighter Future Fund.

Another barrier is knowledge. Tractor operation is a skill that can be intimidating to learn. Organizations like NCAT and Extension Services are trying to overcome this barrier by training new farmers on how to operate tractors, maintain equipment, and use sustainable practices. Experienced farmers are also an invaluable source of knowledge, and now is the time for those skilled in using tractors to pass their knowledge on to the next generation. The generational transition in farming is coming, and our ability to maintain a steady food supply will require a smooth transition, passing the torch to well-trained hands.

Conclusion
Tractors, used responsibly, can turn more acres into productive, sustainable land, reducing food insecurity and improving the local economy in communities. By overcoming a few barriers, women farmers can improve their profitability and increase their chances of long-term health and success.

ATTRA Resources

Maintaining Your Tractor – Building Your Toolbox

Scaling Up Your Vegetable Farm for Regional Markets

Equipment and Tools for Small-Scale Intensive Crop Production

NCAT Highlights Safety Resources During Farm Safety and Health Week

Other Resources

American Farmland Trust’s Research into Women in Agriculture

The State of Gender Equity in U.S. Agriculture (pdf)

Sources

Dentzman, K. and Lewin, P. (2024), A Fair Comparison: Women’s and Men’s Farms at Seven Scales in the United States. Rural Sociology, 89: 3-39. https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.12512https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.12512 

Schmidt, C., Goetz, S. J., & Tian, Z. (2021). Female farmers in the United States: Research needs and policy questions. Food Policy, 102039. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2021.102039  

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The Legacy and Future of Small Farms

By Mike Lewis, NCAT Senior Manager, Southeast and Appalachia Region

In the past century, the number of farmers in the U.S. has declined dramatically. Small farms, once the heart and soul of rural America, have been squeezed out by a system that prioritizes economies of scale over community well-being. Consolidation of land and resources has made it nearly impossible for smaller operations to compete. The result has been more than a loss of livelihoods; it has been a profound loss of identity for countless communities across the country.

This loss runs deeper than economics. For generations, small farms were not just places of work—they were centers of life. They anchored rural towns, fostered innovation, and built tight-knit networks of support and resilience. Farmers leaned on one another, sharing tools, wisdom, and stories passed down through the ages. In many ways, these farms were the lifeblood of rural culture, a thread connecting people to one another and to the land itself. Their decline has left more than empty barns and overgrown fields; it has unraveled the social fabric of communities, leaving schools closed, main streets empty, and once-thriving towns struggling to survive.

The impact on community well-being is stark and far-reaching. The loss of small farms means the loss of shared traditions—harvest festivals, barn raisings, and local markets where neighbors gathered not just to trade goods, but to build relationships. These were places where stories were told, problems were solved, and hope was renewed. Without them, rural communities have seen an increase in isolation, the erosion of mutual support, and the hollowing out of institutions that once brought people together.

Equally devastating is the fading connection between people and the land. Small farms represented more than just a way to earn a living; they embodied a way of life that valued stewardship, humility, and a deep respect for the natural world. This relationship, cultivated over generations, has been lost for many, replaced by a sense of disconnection from the land that once fed, healed, and sustained entire communities.

But this story is not over. Beneath the surface of these struggles lies a quiet determination. Rural people understand what’s at stake—their heritage, their livelihoods, and their future. And amidst the hardships, there are glimmers of hope: farmers working together to reclaim their role as stewards of the land, young people returning to agriculture with a vision of sustainability, and communities fighting to preserve what remains of their unique way of life.

By supporting small-scale farmers, whether they’ve been farming for generations, or whether they are new to the profession, we can honor the legacy of small farmers, protect the land, and rebuild the resilience of rural communities. Every purchase at a local farmers market, every voice raised for fair agricultural policies, and every effort to connect with the origins of our food helps ensure a future where small farms thrive once again.

The time to act is now. The values of small farms—stewardship, care, and community—are not just relics of the past but guiding lights for a sustainable future. Together, we can cultivate a world where rural communities flourish, the land is cherished, and every field tells a story of hope and renewal. Let us choose to support the farmers who are working to build this better tomorrow, one seed, one harvest, and one community at a time.

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Farmer Appreciation: A Tribute to Janice Neighbor 

January is Farmer Appreciation Month at NCAT, and some of the farmers and ranchers we especially value are those who make the effort to pass along their hard-won knowledge to beginners. NCAT Livestock Specialist Linda Coffey recently lost one of her farming mentors and took the opportunity to document how significantly this friend influenced her life.

By Linda Coffey

On December 21, 2024, family and friends gathered in Fayetteville, Arkansas, to celebrate the extraordinary life of Mrs. Janice Neighbor. Many people shared stories, and I loved hearing them all, but I couldn’t share mine then. I knew I would cry and stumble over words and not be able to adequately say what she has meant to me and my family for the past 25 years. But I would like to share here what Janice meant to me, in hopes that readers will be reminded of mentors in their own lives, and of people they could mentor, too, to help make the world a better place, as she did.

Two women taking a selfie, looking at the camera smiling.

NCAT specialist Linda Coffey (left) and her friend and farming mentor Janice Neighbor (right). Photo: Linda Coffey, NCAT

My path crossed with Janice because of dairy goats. I had the idea that if we had a couple of dairy goats to milk, we would save money on our grocery bill. Our family of six drank a lot of milk. I mentioned this to a friend who replied that I ought to talk to Janice Neighbor, because her son was in his last year of 4-H and the family would be selling a lot of goats.

I found Janice at the kitchen cabin at Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park, where she was engaged in a reenactment. I was fascinated with the living history she was enacting, cooking with cast iron in the fireplace of the cabin, wearing period clothing, teaching people who came in about the Civil War era, and sharing delicious rolls that she had baked in a Dutch oven. We arranged to meet, and she began mentoring me about goats right from the start.

Hannah Coffey on left leading a string of milk goats down a grassy path to the barn for milking time.

Hannah Coffey leads the family’s herd of milk goats to the barn for milking time. Photo: Linda Coffey, NCAT

She and her son had spent years breeding high-quality goats. She gave some to us with the stipulation that we must join 4-H and show the goats at the county fair. She promised to help with that by forming a dairy goat club for others who wanted to show, so we could learn together. That is how we met others who had similar interests. Janice was THE person responsible for connecting the Coffey family to the fair community. The last 25 years would have been so different if she hadn’t cared for and worked with us. I am so grateful!

Janice showed so much patience. We had so much to learn, and she guided us through joining the American Dairy Goat Association, getting papers transferred, applying for our farm name, applying for our herd tattoo, filling out registration papers, filling out fair entry forms, learning to fit and show and properly care for these beautiful, useful animals. She taught us what we needed to know, and we entered our first fair.

It is so much more fulfilling to be a participant than to be a spectator! And it was amazingly helpful having the pro introduce us to other experienced people in the dairy goat barn, having her encourage us each step of the way and cheer us on as the goats that originally were her son’s won more ribbons for our children and our farm. The fair that year, and every year that we participated, was my favorite week of the year, and Janice gave that to us. She helped us learn all about the Dairy Goat Barn customs, the premium sale, and the fun event where the goats and children dressed up and competed.  And she was there, cheering us on and celebrating with us.

The joy of being part of this! It was great for me and for our kids, and we always did well, having started with really nice goats and taken Janice’s recommendations about where to acquire more breeding stock. It was satisfying and fun, and we would never have done it if she hadn’t put that requirement on us and then taught us how.

John Coffey with his back to the camera hand-milking a black goat, who is standing on a wooden milk stand facing the camera.

John Coffey takes a turn at milking one of the family’s milk goats. Photo: Linda Coffey, NCAT

The dairy goats brought other benefits to our family, beyond the fair. Our kids developed a solid work ethic with twice-a-day milking, and the milk itself fed our family, local customers, and the pigs, calves, and lambs we also raised. We learned to make cheese – she guided us there, too.

We took goats to Farm Friends, a fun event where over 1,000 school children attend, and there’s a free bean supper that evening for the community. Janice was always there, too, spinning all day with her guild and providing cornbread for the evening meal.

Janice also helped us with our sheep and got us involved in Sheep to Shawl. She got her entire spinners’ guild to spin our Gulf Coast wool for Sheep to Shawl, and I loved seeing what they created.

She was also such a good cook and gardener. She knew so much about culinary and medicinal herbs. She knew and grew at least ten basil varieties, for example, and the seed collection she and her husband developed is so impressive. She was a Master Naturalist as well as a Master Gardener, Master Canner, and knowledgeable in all the homesteading arts. I can’t capture everything that was special about her. I haven’t mentioned her humor, her colorful expressions, her vast knowledge of history, medicine, livestock, fiber arts, food preservation, indigenous knowledge, and more. I haven’t helped you picture her beautiful, kind smile, her enthusiasm for life and for people and for nature. You can’t see how she enjoyed all the good things, how she encouraged so many people every day, how she could be very blunt and straight-forward when the situation called for it, or how she’d lived so MUCH in her lifetime.

But her kindness and love for our family are what I will miss most. She got to know each of our children, celebrated our successes, and shared her teaching experience. She gave me great support and advice, even to the last time I saw her, literally on her deathbed, when she still cared and gave me words of wisdom.

I thought I had more time. I regret that I never took the time to just go hang out all day and learn. I would have had to go every day for a long time to just get the tip of the iceberg! I always thought I would do that “later.”  My advice for you is this: if you know someone you admire and love, prioritize spending time with them, no matter how busy you are. If you have the chance to be a participant instead of a spectator, do it! It’s much more fun. If you have a mentor, thank them. If you are a mentor, I thank YOU: you are changing lives and making the world a better place, as my precious friend Janice did.

Beginning farmers often connect with mentors through formal mentorship programs like Marbleseed’s Farmer-to-Farmer Mentorship Program, Quivira Coalition’s New Agrarian Program, and Practical Farmers of Iowa’s Labor4Learning. Similarly, structured learning opportunities like the ones listed in ATTRA’s Internship Hub can help beginners connect with experienced agricultural practitioners.

This blog is produced by the National Center for Appropriate Technology through the ATTRA Sustainable Agriculture program, under a cooperative agreement with USDA Rural Development. ATTRA.NCAT.ORG.

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Organic Transition Training Coming to Great Falls

Stipends Available for Beginning Farmers and Ranchers to Attend

The National Center for Appropriate Technology, along with nationally recognized organic leaders, will offer an Organic Academy Road Show (OARS) training at the Mansfield Convention Center in Great Falls, Montana, on December 6 and 7, 2023. Beginning farmers and ranchers in the Northern Great Plains will have the opportunity to explore regenerative, certified organic production systems for livestock, grains, oilseeds, and pulses.

Thirty stipends for beginning farmers and ranchers are available for up to $200 each to defray the costs of attending. There is no registration fee, but registration is required. Online registration is available at NCAT.ORG/EVENTS.

This event will host intensive training sessions and one-on-one technical assistance for beginning farmers and ranchers. Topics will include developing an organic system plan, the economics and markets for organic products, considerations when transitioning an operation, working with an organic consultant, and more. There will be time for questions and crowdsourcing ideas with experienced organic farmers and ranchers including Nate Powell-Palm, Doug Crabtree, Margaret Scoles, and others. Thursday’s session will conclude with a tour of an organic processing facility. The event schedule can be found here.

“This series of educational opportunities is not just another farming training,” said Doug Crabtree and Anna Jones-Crabtree of Vilicus Farms in Montana. “It is about leveraging training to further build the network of beginning organic producers who are farming and ranching at a scale that will have a tremendous impact on land stewardship across the Northern Great Plains.”

OARS attendees who are farmers and ranchers transitioning to organic can also apply for a complimentary two-day conference pass to the Montana Organic Association Conference, December 8-9, 2023, also at the Mansfield Convention Center.

The OARS sessions are part of the three-year federal Beginning Farmers and Rancher Development Program, Preparing a Resilient Future, in partnership with the Montana Organic Association, Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society, Center for Rural Affairs, the Intertribal Agriculture Council, Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Society, International Organic Inspectors Association, North Dakota State, and University of Wyoming.

The project targets medium to large-scale field crop and livestock operations, unlike most programs focused on beginning farmers and ranchers. This project was selected in a national competition under the Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Development Program funded through the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

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Cotton and Wool Producers Invited to Apply to Climate Beneficial Fiber Program

Provides technical assistance and direct payments to producers.

 Cotton and wool producers in the states of California, Georgia, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Wyoming are invited to apply to the new program “Climate Beneficial Fiber: Building New, Accessible, and Equitable Market Opportunities for Climate-Smart Wool and Cotton.”  

 With funding from USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Program, the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) and its partners — Carbon Cycle Institute, Fibershed, New York Textile Lab, Seed2Shirt, and the Colorado State University Department of Soil and Crop Sciences — are ready to provide technical assistance and $18 million in direct payments to producers, enabling them to choose and adopt climate-smart conservation practices that fit with their farming operations and goals. 

 Participating farms and ranches will work with experts to create a tailored plan that identifies opportunities to bring more carbon into soils and vegetation and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Participants will then receive incentive payments for adopting practices that — besides being “climate-smart” — have benefits such as increasing the water-holding capacity of soils, reducing the need for expensive synthetic fertilizers, and boosting overall farm productivity. 

 The program provides technical assistance and planning at no cost to producers and pays 75 to 90 percent of the average cost of implementing recommended practices. Over the next five years, the program hopes to sign up 100 agricultural operations and impact two million acres of land.  

 At least 40 percent of all program benefits will go to small and underserved farmers, and a special initiative is encouraging Black farmers in southern states to grow climate-smart cotton. “We’re making it a priority to reach and include folks who have not traditionally benefited from this type of program,” said NCAT Executive Director Fred Bahnson. “We strongly encourage cotton and wool producers of all sizes to apply.” 

 Building on the Climate Beneficial™ Verification program already developed by Fibershed, the program is also working with well-known clothing brands and textile manufacturers to expand markets for climate-smart wool and cotton. Growing concerns about textile-derived microplastics, land-use impacts, “fast fashion,” and human rights have prompted an industry-wide shift to seek natural fiber sources with verified benefits to land and climate.  

 “Our long-term goal is to create a self-sustaining consumer market and regional manufacturing systems that reward cotton and wool producers with price premiums for drawing down carbon from the atmosphere,” said Fibershed Executive Director Rebecca Burgess. “That’s good for rural communities as well as the planet.” 

 Producers interested in learning more can visit the Climate Beneficial Fiber Partnership website (fiberpartnership.ncat.org) and fill out an interest form.

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Adaptive Grazing – You Can Do It

Brown cows graze in a freshly opened pasture that looks healthy with its tall grass.

Adaptive high stock-density grazing. Photo: Pasture Project

By Lee Rinehart, Sustainable Agriculture Specialist, NCAT Northeast

Back in the late 1990s, I was a new county Extension agent in Texas. I met a Brangus rancher who became a friend and demonstration cooperator, and I pitched him a topic that he became immediately interested in. We laid out 11 paddocks and began grazing 24 heifers in a daily rotational system. The lightbulb went on in my head when I looked about the paddock to assess how much they had grazed, and I noticed that all of the curly dock had been stripped bare. What I had observed was a change in grazing behavior, caused by a controlled grazing system that decreased the heifers’ grazing selectivity.

Fast forward to 2020, and the landscape of managed grazing has changed. We understand that we are dealing with a biological system driven by diversity. The powerful principles we learned from management intensive grazing have been refined into an adaptive system of livestock production that can actually regenerate the soil, the water cycle, and the land.

Adaptive grazing improves forage availability and ecosystem functioning, and strengthens grazing landscapes with diversity and resilience. ATTRA has brought together a suite of resources for farmers and ranchers, of all scales and for all species of grazing animals, who are interested in transitioning to an adaptive grazing system.

Consulting the Expert

Black cows move from the right of the photo, which is trampled and grazed pasture, to the left, which is lush and tall grass.

Cows moving to fresh pasture, Sieben Live Stock Company, Montana. Photo: Cooper Hibbard

Dr. Allen Williams, a leading expert in regenerative, adaptive grazing, recommends providing extended periods of rest between short, high stock-density grazing periods on diverse pastures.

This allows for optimum recovery of forages and increases overall forage dry matter production. It also contributes significantly to soil health through the addition of organic matter.

Williams (2019) speaks of three principles that characterize this system:

  1. The Principle of Compounding – our actions result in a series of compounding and cascading events that are either positive or negative.
  2. The Principle of Diversity – highly diverse and complex pastures create positive compounding effects.
  3. The Principle of Disruption – planned, purposeful disruptions build resilient systems with more vigor and diversity and create positive compounding effects.

As such, adaptive grazing is goal-oriented, focuses on stock density and not stocking rate, and is necessarily flexible.

A line of sheep move along a fence through tall, brown grass in front of a mountain backdrop.

Ewes making their way from night camp to the day’s grazing in a dryland meadow. Photo: Dave Scott, Montana Highland Lamb

Rotations, grazing-residue heights, rest periods, and grazing seasonality are never the same throughout the year. This grazing system uses frequent movement and adequate pasture rest for plant root-system recovery, and is highly reliant on temporary fencing (Williams, 2016).

ATTRA Can Help You With Your Grazing System

ATTRA offers detailed guidance on developing your grazing system through instructional videos, podcasts, and in-depth publications.

Videos

Video Series: Adaptive Grazing with Allen Williams

Recorded in November 2019 at the Piney Woods School in Mississippi, Allen Williams leads participants on a pasture walk and discusses the various elements good grazing and pastured livestock production with his engaging style.

  1. Soil evaluation, aggregation, and biology

    Grazing sheep disappear into the tall grass of a Montana flatland with a farmhouse and mountains in the background.

    Stockpiling grass for grazing in southwest Montana.
    Photo: Dave Scott, Montana Highland Lamb

  2. Mycorrhizal fungi
  3. Forage density, paddock size, and animal movement
  4. Forbs and medicinal compounds
  5. Animal density, nutrition, and parasite management
  6. Setting up an adaptive grazing system

Spring Pasture Management series with Margo Hale, NCAT Southeast Regional Director, Prairie Grove, Arkansas.

  1. Winter Paddock Recovery
    Margo Hale provides a short tour of one of her pastures as spring approaches, and discusses how she manages winter paddock recovery after feeding round bales.
  2. Forage Diversity in Pastures
    Hale discusses the importance of forage diversity in pastures to provide high quality forage and to build pasture soil health.

Regenerative Grazing from the Ground Up highlights Greg and Forrest Stricker’s dairy herd grazing and their use of warm season annuals to supplement their herd with high quality forage while building soil health. Filmed at a Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture Field Day at Spring Creek Farms in Wernersville, PA, September 19, 2019.

Podcasts

Allen Williams and Adaptive Stewardship Management Grazing
https://attra.ncat.org/allen-williams-and-adaptive-stewardship-management-grazing-podcast/

This podcast, recorded in November 2019, provides a “big picture” view of pastured livestock production and offers insight on the development of Allen’s techniques.

Regenerative Grazing: Outcomes and Obstacles
https://attra.ncat.org/regenerative-grazing-outcomes-and-obstacles/

In this episode, Dave Scott and Lee Rinehart, both specialists with NCAT’s ATTRA – the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service – have a conversation about regenerative grazing.

Publication

Pasture, Rangeland, and Adaptive Grazing (IP306D)
https://attra.ncat.org/product/pasture-rangeland-and-grazing-management/

This publication, published in 2020, contains an explanation of the principles and practices, and further resources, for the kind of grazing Allen advocates in the videos. It’s a good supplement to the videos for digging deeper into the intricacies of grazing and pasture management.

Nutrient Cycling in Pastures (IP136D)
https://attra.ncat.org/product/nutrient-cycling-in-pastures/

This publication looks at the pathways and drivers that move nutrients into, out of, and within pasture systems. It attempts to provide a clear, holistic understanding of how nutrients cycle through pastures and what the producer can do to enhance the processes to create productive, regenerative, and resilient farm and ranch systems. Effective management of nutrient cycling in pastures is simply understanding how nature cycles nutrients in natural grasslands and then mimicking those processes.

Building Healthy Pasture Soils (IP546P)
https://attra.ncat.org/product/building-healthy-pasture-soils/

This publication is a supplement to ATTRA’s Managed Grazing Tutorial session on Pasture Fertility, and introduces properties of soil, discusses evaluation and monitoring of soil quality, and introduces grazing management principles and techniques that promote healthy soil.

Tutorial

Managed Grazing
https://attra.ncat.org/tutorials/

Have you heard that changing the way you manage your grazing animals can change the condition of your land and finances for the better? Interested in finding out more about how managing your livestock can improve your soil health, your pasture condition and your bottom line? This tutorial features sessions taught by National Center for Appropriate Technology specialists who are also livestock producers. They share years of experience managing their own pastures to inspire you to start wherever you are and build or refine your own managed grazing systems. Detailed presentations and real-world examples will get you on the road to managed grazing.

References

Brown cows grazing a pasture, but their heads cannot be seen the grass is so high. Also visible in the fields is a diversity of plant species.

High stock density removes grazing selectivity thereby utilizing forages more efficiently, and returns large amounts of carbon back to the soil through trampling of uneaten forage. Photo: Understanding Ag, LLC

Williams, Allen. 2016. Adaptive Grazing and Relationship to Soil Health (presentation). www.sfa-mn.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Allen.2017.DirtRich-1.pdf.

Williams, Allen. 2019. Personal Communication.

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26 Miles of Hedgerows: California Project Update

Fremontodendron; a species that explodes with beautiful yellow flowers in the Spring.

NCAT’s Western office has completed the first year of its hedgerow planting project. NCAT secured funding to provide hedgerow plants and technical assistance to farmers across California, taking us from as far south as San Diego to Crescent City in the north. All told, we delivered to 80 farmers who ran the gamut of what California offers in terms of farming systems, scale, and crops grown.

As a resilient bunch of plants, these native species have been planted in the deserts east of Los Angeles, the fog draped regions of the redwood forests, and everywhere in between.

The goal of the project was to provide habitat to native species with a mix of 18 different hedgerow plants. A special addition of Narrow Leaf Milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis) was added to the mix in an effort to grow back a tiny portion of the Monarch butterfly habitat that has been removed in the name of development over recent decades.

Hedgerows can serve many functions. Historically, hedgerows were commonplace in several European countries. They were managed to mark property boundaries and provide a dense

Revegetating a burn scar caused by last year’s fires.

barrier to reduce unwanted traffic from predators and pen-in livestock. Some turned the practice of managing hedges into a specialized skill, even an artform. Many miles of these hedges were eventually replaced due to increasing labor costs and the popularity of labor-saving tools like wire fencing. Like many innovations, the replacement of hedgerows by a more “efficient” technology came with its costs. Erosion, wind, dust, and pest pressure increased, while biodiversity decreased greatly.

Of course, every farmer has their own reason for wanting to plant a hedgerow. As we came to learn, these reasons included privacy, protection against wind, noise reduction, habitat for animals and beneficial insects, soil stabilization, supplemental food production, and beauty.

All told, if we had been able to plant in a single row, this hedgerow project would span 26 miles. And we hope to make it longer. If you are a farmer and are interested in planting a hedgerow, please contact NCAT’s Western office at 530-792-7338. We are planning to secure funding for another project like this one and hope you might be a part of it.

This blog post is produced by the National Center for Appropriate Technology through the ATTRA Sustainable Agriculture program, under a cooperative agreement with USDA Rural Development. This blog post was also made possible in-part by funding from ATTRA, CDFA Specialty Crop Block Grant (Conservation stewardship training and demonstration for specialty crop growers; investing in your farm #18-0001-034-sc), Regenerative Ag. Foundation, and Environmental Defense Fund.  

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Fruit and the Freeze of 2021

Better Than I Feared but Worse Than It Looks

By Guy K. Ames, NCAT Horticulture Specialist

Photo at right: Peach flowers from a previous spring, a sight we won’t be seeing much of this year because of the deep freeze.

A dipping polar vortex delivered a cruel and chilling Valentine’s gift to the Midwest and South on Valentine’s Week 2021. The damage in Texas may be among the worst. It certainly garnered the most headlines. An estimated $300 million winter citrus crop in the Rio Grande Valley is gone. Gone. Worse, it’s likely that the trees in the valley suffered damage, the full extent of which won’t be known for weeks and possibly months. To the non-fruit-growing observer, the trees might look fine but they’re not. It’s worse than it looks.

Near Fayetteville, Arkansas, where I live and grow fruit, we broke the all-time winter cold record at our local airport, Drake Field, when we hit -20 degrees F. (The all-time Fayetteville low is -24 set in 1899.)  At my own ridgetop farm, by virtue of elevation about 500′ higher than Drake Field, we escaped the worst, recording -12. Still, that was about 12 degrees colder than the zero that was predicted, and I feared the worst for my muscadines and my two 3,000-gallon cisterns, which I hadn’t drained. Frankly, I feared those cisterns would be ruptured and rendered worthless (they weren’t). And like the Texas citrus growers, I won’t know the full extent of the damage to my muscadines for some weeks to come. They look okay, but I know from experience that they’re not.

Apple blossom
Luckily, the author’s apples are blooming this spring despite February’s freeze.

Climate change is laden with paradoxes. Overall, it’s clear that the planet is warming. To the Valley citrus grower seeing his oranges frozen and on the ground, it’s hard to believe that the polar vortex is a product of climate change, but it is. Climatologists can explain it in detail, but I hope it will suffice to say here that the added warmth to our planetary system leads to more extreme events: more severe storms, more severe droughts, more extreme heat events and even some extreme cold events. These extremes and the uncertainty surrounding them are worrisome for all farmers, but for the growers of perennial fruits the worry runs even deeper.

An apple grower can’t replant every time a late frost ruins one year’s crop. An apple tree takes years to produce its first crop, and it must produce several crops before it pays back the years of investment. By contrast, a soybean or corn grower might have a couple opportunities to replant in any given year if an untimely freeze wastes his first young seedlings. I’m not saying this is pleasant or comes without expense to the soybean or corn grower, but all is not lost!

But Valentine’s Week 2021 was not just a late frost. This was potentially a tree, bush, and vine killer. Apples, pears, peaches, blueberries, grapes, and all other deciduous perennial fruits have evolved physiological mechanisms to escape death from winter’s cold. Together these mechanisms are known as dormancy. The tree, vine or bush puts itself into a sort of deep sleep that keep it safe until better, warmer conditions return. These perennial plants, depending on the climate where they evolved, will have longer or shorter dormancy periods which can vary among plants. A species, or even a variety within a species, will have a “chilling requirement,” which means that that species or variety must have a certain amount of cold before it can come out of dormancy.

The trunk of a pawpaw tree, split in two places due to freeze damage.
Splits in a pawpaw’s trunk from a previous year’s damage. We won’t see this yet from this year’s cold snap—right now the trunks look fine. This type of damage may not become visible for weeks or months.

This is a safety mechanism keeping the plant from waking up too early when temperatures might still be fatally cold. This all works very smoothly in a more-or-less stable climate. But in an unstable climate characterized by too-warm winters, late spring freezes, and sudden and severe cold snaps, the plant can become confused and come out of dormancy partially or completely and get damaged or killed.

The increasing frequency of such freeze damage events in fruit crops is well-documented and presented in ATTRA’s Climate Change and Perennial Fruit and Nut Production: Investing in Reslience in Uncertain Times. The most common form of this damage is frost killing the flowers, and thus the crop, of fruit plants. This is because the warmer winters are inducing earlier bloomtimes for these crops while the dates of the last killing frost remain roughly the same. For instance, apples might bloom in March now in NW Arkansas—a month earlier than 50 years ago—only to have the flowers or young fruitlets killed by a frost on April 10. This very thing has happened to me with varying degrees of crop loss the last three seasons!

But a more serious form of damage is the potential loss of whole plants when warm winter temperatures render the plants’ tissues tender…and then a cold snap roars in like this one on Valentine’s Week 2021.

It turns out that, for me, this extreme event was not as bad as I had feared.  The pears, apples, bunch grapes and blackberries all look okay, though damage could still manifest later.  Looks like I’m going to have some trunk cracking on a few pawpaw trees. Blackberry and blueberry plants probably lost some fruit buds, but it looks like the plants were spared. The peaches suffered worse, with 99% of the flowers lost in the bud (before they could even open), but the trees seem largely undamaged. And this is exactly how nature planned it. Most of these cold hardy species came through just fine. Even if the crop is lost or partially lost, the plant will live to try again next year.

A muscadine trunk killed by the cold in a previous year is surrounded by new growth sent up from the roots.
The main trunk of this muscadine was killed by the cold in a previous year, but the roots sent up new growth.

I can’t tell quite yet how bad the damage is to the muscadines, but I expect that I probably lost some whole vines, at least to the ground. Resprouts from the roots can replace these but I will still have lost a couple years of cropping before the new vines will begin fruiting. Looking at the southern extent of the freezing temperatures, this will probably be true for muscadines all over Arkansas and probably throughout the South.

In the parts of the South where sub-tropical plants like figs, Asian persimmons, pomegranates, black mulberries, loquats, and similar plants can grow, these will probably be devastated. Some of these, like the figs, can come back from the roots. Luckily, the snow that accompanied the cold provided some insulation keeping soil temperatures considerably higher than the air temperatures. But there will be heart-breaking losses to many homeowners and some commercial growers. I’m thinking sadly of some of the huge dooryard fig trees in East Texas where I grew up that are most likely doomed.

Truthfully, I feel lucky. It’s not as bad as I had feared.  Probably most of the fruit growers farther north from me will only suffer minor damage.  It’s the folks who grow perennial fruits farther south that are and will be experiencing the worst losses. If you’re not a fruit grower you probably won’t be able to tell but it’s almost certainly worse than it looks.

 All photos by Guy K. Ames.

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Creating Habitat for Beneficials to Control Aphids

By Rex Dufour, NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Specialist

Photo: Cover crop mix on April 28, 2020. Red crimson clover, mixed with orange California poppy, blue California Phacelia, and pink Persian clover (lower left). These flowers support large populations of predators, parasites, and pollinators.

For the past growing season, my staff and I have been involved with designing and managing a cover crop mix in pecan orchards in Northern California to attract beneficials, which provide some control of two species of pecan aphids. This monitoring took me back to the days in the early 1980’s when I was working as a licensed pest control advisor in Corralitos, CA, monitoring mites, fruit tree leaf rollers, and codling moths in apple orchards in the area.  I enjoyed the work then, and I continue to enjoy observing the progression of a crops biology.  Controlling aphids in pecans with chemicals generally requires two or three spray applications over the season. By planting a cover crop, we believe the grower has saved one or two sprays, one of which would likely have been a neonicotinoid, a class of insecticides which have been banned from Europe due to impacts on non-target organisms.  We’ve also learned that alternate row mowing of the cover crop can extend the flowering and, therefore, the availability of nectar and pollen for supporting a wide variety of beneficial insects that suppress aphid populations. On a personal note, it was an absolute joy to walk around in a diverse cover crop mix, with the perfume of Persian clover all about, while listening to and seeing the incredible diversity of life these practices bring into an orchard, compared to a bare dirt orchard floor. It was a privilege to do this work.

With funding from California Wildlife Conservation Board, this project is a collaboration between the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) to work with two pecan orchards: one at PacGold in Colusa, owned by Ben King; and one at Bypass Farms, managed by Reyes, on the north side of the Sacramento River, just east of Route 5. The goal is to develop habitat in or adjacent to the orchard that can support beneficial insects, including monarch populations.

The major pests of pecans in California orchards are the yellow pecan aphid and the black margined pecan aphid. The yellow pecan aphid is the more benign pest of the two and generally appears first, in the late spring and early summer. Unless honeydew generated by the aphids becomes a problem, the economic threshold for the yellow pecan aphid is an average of 20 aphids per compound leaf during this time of year. It should be noted that these thresholds and dates (outlined below) were developed for conventionally managed pecan orchards without any cover crops.

  • Before June 1: Apply an insecticide for aphid control if honeydew is accumulating
  • June 1 to August 15: Apply an insecticide if the total number of aphids exceeds an average of 20 per compound leaf
  • August 15 to leaf fall: Apply an insecticide if the total number of aphids exceeds an average of 10 per compound leaf

To date, the cover crops have saved the grower of the larger orchard (Pacific Gold, 197 acres) at least one spray, perhaps two. (See Table 1 for cover crop species mix and comments.) Because of the low price of pecans, this grower made a commitment not to spray for the whole season. This is fortunate for us because we can observe the pest-predator evolution throughout the season. The NCAT team does three types of monitoring.  Every two weeks, we sweep at 10 locations in the larger orchard to better understand what beneficials are coming into the cover crop. We also place new sticky traps in the pecan canopy to better understand if the beneficials from the cover crop are moving into the canopy, as well as to determine which parasites and predators are in the canopy. We’ve found many green and brown lacewing adults, other predators, and many species of small, parasitic wasps.

We perform weekly monitoring of aphids in the pecan canopy. This information provides the grower with some good data for making spray/no-spray decisions. We select three compound leaf samples from each of 20 trees located around the 200-acre orchard and count the aphids, as well as green lacewing eggs, and other predators, such as all life stages of ladybird beetle, assassin bugs, syrphid flies, and spiders. The aphid counts are listed in the graph below by date. As you can see, the aphid counts peaked in late August and then plummeted pretty dramatically as predator populations caught up with the aphids. The aphid populations slowly increased and exceeded the late-season threshold of 10 aphids/leaf, but aside from some honeydew and some sooty mold (which grows on the honeydew but doesn’t damage the leaves), I didn’t observe any damage from the late-season yellow pecan aphids. And the late-season counts never exceeded the early-season threshold of 20 aphids/compound leaf.

The aphid populations are being managed by the changing array of predators, including very tiny spiders that weave small webs on the leaves. These tiny spiders feed on the first and second instars of the aphids, just as newly hatched ladybird beetle larvae do. Small predators, small prey. But we also found that small predators, such as very small lacewing larvae and lad bird beetle larvae (second or third instars for you entomologist-types) will attack winged adult aphids (see photos).

In the sticky traps, we found many very small wasps that are either insect egg parasites or aphid parasites, but because of the heavy predation of the aphids, we found very few aphid mummies (aphids that have been parasitized). There was likely a high turnover of aphid populations due to predation, so the wasp parasites didn’t have enough time to mature before their host was eaten.  Having a diverse array of predators and parasites, with different prey and host preferences, provides dynamic and flexible aphid suppression. The photos show some of the predators and parasites we’ve found.

 

 

Photo (right): This second-instar green lacewing larva is taking on a larger, winged yellow pecan aphid. Green lacewing larva are voracious predators of aphid and other small, soft-bodied insects.

 

 

 

 

 

Photo (left): A mama spider and her egg mass. We found many spiders smaller than this preying on aphids.

 

 

 

 

Photo (right): Assassin bug nymphs and adults are later-season predators.  The smaller, newly hatched nymphs feed on yellow pecan aphids.

 

 

 

Table 1: Cover crop species, seeding rates, and some observations

CC Species Name Comments
Persian Clover Seed mix drilled @ 15 lbs/acre on 197 acres. Persian clover (an annual) dominated late spring, and came on after crimson clover.
Crimson Clover Seed mix drilled @ 15 lbs/acre on 197 acres.  Crimson clover (an annual) dominated early spring, and went to seed earlier that Persian clover.
Red Clover Seed mix drilled @ 15 lbs/acre on 197 acres. Red clover (a perennial clover) flowered after first mowing in early/mid June.
Cayuse Oats Seed mix drilled @ 15 lbs/acre on 197 acres.  Oats only appeared occasionally.
Narrow leaf milkweed Part of seed mix broadcast @ 12lbs/acre on 119 acres.  Neither milkweed species were observed at PacGold, but did grow at Bypass farms.
Showy milkweed Part of seed mix broadcast @ 12 lbs/acre on 119 acres. Some did grow at Bypass farms.
Common yarrow Part of seed mix broadcast @ 12 lbs/acre on 119 acres.  Yarrow was rarely observed.
Lacy phacelia Part of seed mix broadcast @ 12 lbs/acre on 119 acres
California phacelia Part of seed mix broadcast @ 12 lbs/acre on 119 acres.  California phacelia bloomed early spring in some patches but was not widespread.
California poppy Part of seed mix broadcast @ 12 lbs/acre on 119 acres.  California poppy was seen at the edges of dense legume cover crop, and in some of the sparser cover crop mid-spring.
Creeping Wild Rye Part of seed mix broadcast @ 12 lbs/acre on 119 acres. Did not observe this growing at PacGold.
Sweet alyssum Seed mix broadcast @ 12 lbs/acre on 119 acres. Sweet alyssum was able to grow at the border of the alley and tree row, where herbicides controlled weeds.

 

 

Alleys in orchards are underutilized as habitat for beneficial insects. What we found was not surprising—planting cover crops in the alleys can provide nectar and pollen resources for a wide range of beneficials, some of which migrate into the pecan canopy in search of prey. It’s good to remember that cover crops, which require management inputs, are an investment in the biological system of checks and balances which supports populations of parasites and predators of aphids and other insects. Investments such as seed costs, planting costs, and other management considerations (e.g., seed drill or broadcast?), mowing costs, can have significant returns. There is, however, a learning curve related to how best to manage the cover crop. Knowledge about when to plant the cover, what species to include, and when to mow, will be guided by experience.

If you’re interested in planting cover crops, there are many resources, including NRCS, RCDs, NCAT, other nonprofits, and seed suppliers. For example, we found mowing alternate rows is less disruptive to beneficial insects. Cover crops are also an investment in the soil, supporting a healthier soil, which will store and cycle nutrients more efficiently, and absorb and store more water.

Due to their long growing season and late harvest, pecans are ideally suited to cover crops. They’re generally harvested in October, and if the trees are irrigated with microsprinklers, cover crops can be grown in the alley for several months to attract and maintain populations of beneficials. Alternate mowing of alleys, spaced about every two weeks, can allow cover crops to go to seed, and at the same time help extend the time flowers can provide nectar and pollen resources for the beneficials.

This blog has described just a few aspects of this project. If you are interested in learning more, contact me at rexd@ncat.org, or 530-792-7338. For information about a wide range of sustainable and organic practices, visit NCAT’s ATTRA website at www.attra.ncat.org.

Related ATTRA Resources:

Overview of Cover Crops and Green Manures

Cover Crop 340 for Organic Systems

Cover Crop Options for Hot and Humid Areas

A Pictorial Guide to Hedgerow Plants for Beneficial Insects

All photos by Rex Dufour, NCAT