Entries by NCAT IT

Adopting Water-Smart Practices in the Rio Grande Valley

By Katelyn Amador, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley The Hub of Prosperity is an urban 5-acre farm managed by sustainable agriculture students like me at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg, Texas. At the Hub, alongside UTRGV classmates, coworkers, and community members, we dive deeper into building a sustainable food system […]

NCAT Soil for Water Mississippi: Learning Together 

By Luz Ballesteros Gonzalez and Felicia Bell, NCAT Agriculture Specialists When you have common goals, things align much easier and faster. This is what has been happening in Mississippi through the MS Holistic Management International (HMI) Regenerative Agriculture Mentor Program (RAMP) organized by Felicia Bell, NCAT Agriculture Specialist. The MS HMI RAMP Cohort has been […]

Retaining Soil Moisture at Lighthouse Herb’n Farm

By Luz Ballesteros Gonzalez, NCAT Agriculture Specialist When will it rain again? How much will it rain? These questions are becoming more common—while such uncertainty has always existed, it’s now more prevalent. In the wake of unpredictable weather, the opportunity to work synergistically with soil and plants has opened up again. Farmers all over the […]

Extreme Heat: Don’t Let Summer Be a Bummer

By Luz Ballesteros and Darron Gaus, NCAT Agriculture Specialists Farmers and ranchers are weather watchers—we begin the day by turning on the local news or checking our apps for the weather highs, humidities, and chances of rain. A lot of us have noticed that temperatures are getting higher, for longer periods of time, and come […]

When in Drought, Plan It Out: Rain Harvesting

By Stephanie Kasper, University of Texas Rio GraSoil for Waternde Valley Program Manager As a south Texas farmer, there’s not much I love more than a refreshing rainy day. However, my rain appreciation grew deeper this year after my partner John and I installed a 1,650-gallon rain harvest system at our house. After moving into […]

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Dale Strickler: Ranching for Rain and Drought Resilience

In this video, Dale Strickler explains how to make your ranching operation more resilient. He goes in depth about optimizing your grazing to catch and hold more water in soil. Strickler is a rancher, educator, and agronomist who consults internationally on sustainable farming. His 2018 book, “The Drought Resilient Farm,” details myriad ways to restore […]

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Dale Strickler: Building Drought Resilient Soils

In this video, Dale Strickler explains how to catch and hold more water on your ranch. Strickler is a rancher, educator, and agronomist who consults internationally on sustainable farming. His 2018 book, “The Drought Resilient Farm,” details myriad ways to restore soil biology, build resilience to droughts and floods, and create enduring health, wealth, and […]

NCAT Releases New Guide to Saving Water, Energy for Irrigators  

Responding to water shortages and uncertainties throughout the western United States, the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) has released a new edition of its popular The Irrigator’s Pocket Guide. “With growing conflict over water supplies, and with irrigators feeling the pinch to save water, energy, and money, we wanted to come up with a […]

Managing Phosphorus for Clean Water

Over-application of phosphorus either in the form of a synthetic fertilizer or as manure is one of the main reasons for the huge dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico and for miles of beaches being closed every summer because of toxic algae blooms in lakes, rivers, and coastlines around the country.