The center was created in 1976 by the merger of several energy conservation programs started after the 1973 oil crisis.
It has regional offices in Davis, California; Fayetteville, Arkansas; San Antonio, Texas; Jackson, Mississippi; and Keene, New Hampshire.
[2] Its headquarters is located in the former Silver Bow County Poor Farm Hospital, which is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Since the farm crisis in the 1980s, NCAT has operated ATTRA, the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service.
The program goal is to provide technical assistance to farmers throughout the nation in succeeding with sustainable, organic and regenerative agriculture.