Achieving Conservation Through Targeted Information, Outreach and Networking (ACTION) Program

About the ACTION Program

Despite the potential benefits of in-field, edge-of-field, and edge-of-stream conservation practices to soil and watershed health, implementation occurs on less than 10 percent of all U.S. croplands. The reasons for the low adoption rates remain unclear.

Coordinated efforts that engage farmers from the beginning help researchers understand farmers’ specific needs and develop interventions that specifically target those needs. Additionally, novel engagement approaches like financial and crop insurance incentives could encourage landowners to adopt conservation practices.

The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) and the Walton Family Foundation launched the Achieving Conservation through Targeting Information, Outreach and Networking (ACTION) program to develop innovative research that increases farmer and landowner adoption of conservation practices. The program includes an innovative collaboration with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation which can provide additional support for practice implementation costs associated with opportunities developed through awarded projects.

The ACTION program is providing grants to the following:

1. Dr. Thomas Isenhart, Professor, Natural Resource Ecology and Management, ISU
   • FFAR grant amount: $226,636
   • Total grant amount: $480,426

   The cost and complexity of technical assistance is a major barrier to large scale adoption of edge-of-field conservation practices. Isenhart’s project is equipping farmers and other professionals to deliver edge-of-field practices at scale in the Upper Mississippi River Basin. Researchers are studying models being used to implement these practices and are compiling intervention and engagement strategies that can be tailored to local conditions and target audiences. The project is using these studies to produce data-driven decision support tools that will allow farmers to scale up practices.

   Isenhart received additional matching funds from Agricultural Drainage Management Coalition and Illinois Sustainable Ag Partnership.

2. Jenny Seifert, Watershed Outreach Specialist, UW
   • FFAR grant amount: $127,676
   • Total grant amount: $262,200

   Seifert, along with collaborators Dr. Beth Baker of Mississippi State University and Dr. Amanda Gumbert of University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension, are testing two engagement approaches to increase farmer willingness to adopt conservation practices. These approaches, both informed by social sciences, facilitate peer learning among farmers. The first approach is a series of virtual meetups for farmers to foster peer-to-peer conversation about implementing conservation practices. The second approach is a mini-grant program that will support pairs of farmers and farm advisors to implement edge-of-field practices, learn how to become opinion leaders and develop multimedia to encourage other farmers to adopt conservation practices. They will evaluate both approaches to understand their effectiveness and share lessons learned to help farmer outreach efforts achieve their goals of increasing conservation practice adoption.

3. Dr. Robyn Wilson, Professor, Risk Analysis and Decision Science, OSU
   • FFAR grant amount: $120,238
   • Total grant amount: $246,924

   Almost half of growers who do not implement conservation practices have positive attitudes about those practices. Dr. Wilson’s project is testing the effects of interventions meant to close this gap. Researchers will develop targeted engagement that addresses farmers’ needs, including plans for overcoming challenges and maintaining motivation to continue conservation practices when financial incentives end. To achieve this, Wilson’s team is developing interventions that target the gap between valuing conservation and implementing practices, assessing their effectiveness and creating guidance for scaling up the proposed interventions.