Episode 367: The Farming Systems of Puerto Rico

This episode of Voices from the Field explores the ancient Taino Conuco farming systems of Puerto Rico in a conversation between NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Specialist Gabriella Soto-Velez and researcher Joseph Navarro. They discuss how these sustainable practices supported self-sufficiency during pre-colonial times, their evolution through colonial and industrial transitions, and their potential to transform Puerto Rico’s future and address modern challenges like soil erosion, food insecurity, and climate resilience.

Related Resources:

Can Indigenous Agricultural Methods of Puerto Rico Mitigate Climate Change and Feed the Island?

Jungle: How Tropical Forests Shaped World History – and Us

Precision Ecology

Contact Gabriella Soto-Velez a at gabriellas@ncat.org and lee@ncat.org.

Please complete a brief survey to let us know your thoughts about the content of this podcast.

You can get in touch with NCAT/ATTRA specialists and find access to our trusted, practical sustainable-agriculture publications, webinars, videos, and other resources at ATTRA.NCAT.ORG.

In this episode of Voices from the Field, NCAT Sustainable Ag Specialists Nina Prater and Lee Rinehart are joined by recently retired Ag Specialist Guy Ames to celebrate his life and work. Guy is deeply knowledgeable about his area of expertise, fruit trees, and is also a font of wisdom about how to live the good life. This conversation includes how Guy found his way to farming in the Ozarks, the many failures that guided him toward success, and like most conversations with Guy, contains many wonderful, circuitous meanderings. He also shares about what it was like in the early days of ATTRA in the distant pre-internet past. We will all miss Guy here at NCAT and are so grateful he joined us in this episode to keep the "cultural cycle," as Wendell Berry puts it, turning.

ATTRA Resources:

Soils and Sites for Organic Orchards and Vineyards

Tree Fruits: Organic Production Overview

Battling Borers in Organic Apple Production

Blueberries: Organic Production

Fruit Trees, Bushes, and Vines for Natural Growing in the Ozarks

Heirloom Apples

Other Resources:

It All Turns on Affection

The Good Life

Divine Right's Trip

Ames Orchard and Nursery

The Wheel

Braiding Sweetgrass

Contact Nina Prater and Lee Rinehart at ninap@ncat.org and lee@ncat.org
Please complete a brief survey to let us know your thoughts about the content of this podcast.
You can get in touch with NCAT/ATTRA specialists and find access to our trusted, practical sustainable-agriculture publications, webinars, videos, and other resources at ATTRA.NCAT.ORG.

In this episode of Voices from the Field, NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Specialists Nina Prater, Darron Gaus, and Lee Rinehart explore calcium – an essential plant nutrient and basic soil cation that has a big impact on soil pH. Whether your soil is naturally high or naturally low in calcium, this episode will guide
you in managing this nutrient.

Related ATTRA Resources:

Episode 164. Soil Sessions. Understanding Soil pH

Episode 304. Phosphorus and the Beauty of Biology

Episode 260. Rising Fertilizer Costs. Look to History for Answers

Episode 323. Potassium from Past to Present

Other Resources:

Soil Fertility and Animal Health

The Marl Pits Around the Upton Area

Soil Cation Balancing

Using Lime in Organic Systems

Soil Acidity and Adjusting Soil pH

Contact Nina Prater, Darron Gaus, and Lee Rinehart at ninap@ncat.org, darrong@ncat.org, and lee@ncat.org.

Please complete a brief survey to let us know your thoughts about the content of this podcast.
You can get in touch with NCAT/ATTRA specialists and find access to our trusted, practical sustainable-agriculture publications, webinars, videos, and other resources at ATTRA.NCAT.ORG.