Who you gonna call?
ATTRA output helps low-input
agriculture expand its market niche
By Paul Williams,ATTRA
Publications Editor
n Amish
farmer in Iowa
drives his
buggy to the
nearest pay
phone and orders the latest
free publications about
organic pest control for corn
and soybeans. A peanut
grower in Georgia dials the
same number to find out
how to get by using fewer
purchased inputs, such as
pesticides, herbicides and
fertilizer.
In Oklahoma, a group of
Cherokee ranchers goes online
at www.attra.ncat.org to
learn how goats can be used
to reclaim grazing land. In
California, Montana, New
York — all across the United
States — farmers and ranchers
are looking for reliable
information on sustainable
and organic agriculture, on
how to qualify for government
programs that reward
land stewardship and
resource conservation, or on
how to pursue profitable
niche markets, such as organic meats
and grains or ag tourism.
The answers to these and many similar
questions are theirs free from the
ATTRA National Sustainable
Agriculture Information Service — a
project of the nonprofit National Center
for Appropriate Technology (NCAT),
headquartered in Butte, Mont.
Since 1987, ATTRA has been providing
American farmers, ranchers,
Extension personnel, educators and
others involved in commercial agriculture
with information and research
services related to low-input, sustainable
and organic production. Thanks
to continued support from USDA
Rural Development, ATTRA can offer
all its publications and services for
free.
How ATTRA works
NCAT employs about two
dozen specialists in agronomy,
horticulture, animal science and
health, soils, water, food systems,
agricultural energy and economics.
These specialists research and
write ATTRA publications that
feature the latest developments in
sustainable agriculture, leadingedge
research and the results of
studies and practical innovations
from America’s most progressive
farms. Many of NCAT’s ag specialists
are themselves farmers and
market gardeners who apply the
practices and information on their
own farms that they suggest to
others.
While ATTRA’s publications
and other services are only offered
to American producers, the scope
of ATTRA research is worldwide.
Its specialists travel to Europe,
Asia and South America to study
advances being made there and to
determine how these practices
may be adapted to the needs of
American farmers and ranchers.
ATTRA has about 250 publications
and other materials (such
as PowerPoint slide shows and CDROMs)
that cover a wide variety of
topics, including horticultural crops,
field crops, soils and composts, pest
management, water quality and conservation
(including irrigation), and
livestock (cattle, hogs, small ruminants,
and poultry). Other publications
address grass farming, marketing and
business strategies, risk management
and agricultural energy. All of these
publications share a common
perspective: sustainable
farming for a sustainable
future in rural
America.
While these publications
are ATTRA’s mainstay,
there is another
ATTRA service that is
unique: a toll-free helpline —1-800-
346-9140 (English); 1-800-411-3222
(Spanish) — that producers can call to
talk to an ATTRA agriculture specialist.
Often, a caller’s question can be
answered by one of the ATTRA publications.
But when it cannot, a specialist
takes the question, researches it, and
sends the client a report on the findings,
including sources of
more information. The
process usually takes a
week or less.
ATTRA has a Web site,
www.attra.ncat.org, which
was redesigned two years
ago, and has evolved into a
robust, interactive Web
resource. You can read or
download all the ATTRA
publications, find breaking news and
sources for grants and other funding
and find announcements for conferences.
It contains hundreds of links to
other ag-related resources. You can
even submit questions about sustainable
agriculture on-line, through the
“Ask a Sustainable
Agriculture Expert” feature.
In 2004, the NCAT
staff working on the
ATTRA project wrote or
updated more than 50 of
their publications and
responded to some 35,000
questions and requests for
materials, while visitors downloaded
more than 300,000 publications from
the ATTRA Web site.
Other NCAT activities
In addition to publications and
research, NCAT’s ATTRA project can
provide speakers (English, Spanish and
Laotian) for conferences and workshops.
ATTRA is also translating
many of its publications
and field-ready pest management
materials into Spanish.
Research projects
include whole-farm planning
for grass-based beef production
and how to protect water
quality while using chicken litter
fertilizer. NCAT’s ag-energy
program is researching
issues that surround the emerging
markets for biofuels (ethanol,
biodiesel, methane) and what they
mean for rural development and sustainable
farming, with plans underway
for a national conference on agricultural
energy in 2006.
To find out more about ATTRA’s
publications, research services, and
other NCAT resources, call (toll free)
1-800-346-9140, or visit the ATTRA
Web site, www.attra.ncat.org.
