Connect with farmers in ways that break through the noise.
There's no time to lose.
Connect with farmers in ways that break through the noise.
There's no time to lose.
Accelerate Farmer Engagement
Midwest Row Crop Collaborative and Trust in Food™ recently teamed up to better understand what it takes to accelerate producers’ voluntary engagement with conservation agriculture programs. Through sharing what we learned, we can reach farmers faster together.
Backed by research, the tool will provide organizations engaged in conservation agriculture initiatives with a step-by-step process to apply to their outreach efforts. Insights, worksheets, and case studies will help users design programs that spark curiosity and inspire change.
A Five Step Process
High Impact Conservation Outreach
A Case Study
What happens if you put a deep understanding of farmers’ values and goals in the center of efforts to drive change?
READ THE CASE STUDY
The answer: It makes a world of difference.
The sustainable systems change needed across the agricultural landscape will only be achieved when farmers understand, see value in, and feel equipped to confidently make progress. The team at Trust In Food calls these the Human Dimensions of Change™.
We know this because we have seen it in action. Together, the Midwest Row Crop Collaborative and Farm Journal’s Trust In Food division designed an effort that first looked to understand the distinct values and obstacles of specific groups of producers, and then used those insights to guide engagement efforts in climate-smart agriculture programs.
Putting farmers at the center.
At the outset of our partnership, Trust In Food analyzed the values, interests, and perceived barriers of more than 55,000 farmers in a three-state area within MRCC members’ supply sheds. Trust In Food designed an engagement strategy with guidance from MRCC members to support the different perspectives and obstacles faced by the project area’s farmers.
Every aspect of the program was based on qualitative and quantitative data and was designed to meet the values, goals, and obstacles of these specific producers.
The strategy worked.
Of the 10,000 farmers engaged in the outreach, 151 farmers raised their hand to learn more about taking formal steps to adopt the desired conservation practice. Some material performed at a rate three-to-five times benchmark, and a longitudinal study showed that sentiment related to conservation agriculture improved measurably in the project area during a one-year span.
Clearly, understanding a project area’s producers can accelerate the effectiveness of conservation outreach.
Insights from Sustainability Engagement Leaders
Planning Conservation Outreach Using Place-Based Insights
“Growers are the ultimate stewards of their land and the center of what we do at Nutrien Ag Solutions. We have long-standing, trusted relationships with farmers in our supply chain. What we can learn in this process will help us engage and build deeper connections with our growers to implement practices in their operations that are both sustainable and profitable.“
Ryan Locke
Nutrien Ag Solutions
Meet the Partners
Midwest Row Crop Collaborative
The Midwest Row Crop Collaborative explores new approaches to agricultural challenges to find solutions that increase productivity while ensuring soil health, protecting water, addressing the factors contributing to climate change, and supporting farm families. Focused on Midwestern row crops, MRCC has developed a theory of change for removing barriers to the adoption of sustainable practices that can lead to regenerative outcomes at scale.
Trust in Food
Trust In Food™ is a social-purpose initiative of Farm Journal. The team at Trust In Food is working to accelerate and scale the transition to more sustainable and resilient agricultural systems. We deploy the unparalleled business intelligence, data, reach and trust of the nearly 150-year-old Farm Journal company to unleash the potential of every dollar invested in sustainable agriculture within the United States.
This Playbook Made Possible By
