2019 SWCS International Annual Conference July 28-31, 2019 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

1. Do Conservation Plans Make a
Difference in Practice
Adoption?: Evidence from Iowa
Farmers
Chris Morris, Rural Sociology and Sustainable
Agriculture MS Student, Iowa State University
Dr. J. Arbuckle, Extension Sociologist, Iowa State
University
Department of Sociology

2. The Situation
Department of Sociology

3. The Situation
• Agricultural Conservation Best Management
Practices (BMPs)
• Reduce soil erosion and improve water
quality
• Can be difficult and expensive to install—
technical and financial assistance is often
needed
• Conservation planning involving BMPs is a
key component of the work the USDA Natural
Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
engages in with farmers.
Department of Sociology

4. Department of Sociology
Historical Perspective
• Soil Conservation Service (SCS) established in 1935
as a direct response to the Dust Bowl
• Soil scientists and technicians worked through local
conservation districts to develop voluntary
conservation plans with farmers

5. Department of Sociology
Historical Perspective
• Conservation Plan:
• Based on treating specific natural resource
concerns
• Record of farmer’s decisions about intended
practice adoption resulting from the planning
process with SCS personnel
• A schedule of implementation of these practices
• Resource maps, engineering designs, etc. to aid
in the implementation of practices

6. Department of Sociology
Historical Perspective
• 1985 Farm Bill
• Conservation Plans became mandatory for
any producers who farmed Highly Erodible
Land (HEL) and wanted participate in USDA
programs.

7. Department of Sociology
Historical Perspective
• In 1994 the SCS became the NRCS
• Emphasis on total farm conservation plans that
addressed all pertinent resource concerns
• Conservation Plans became a prerequisite for financial
programs (EQIP, CRP, CSP, etc.)
• Recent agency-wide initiative for increasing
conservation planning and practice adoption
Photos courtesy of USDA-NRCS

8. Department of Sociology
Need for Research
• Wealth of existing research on BMPs
• Substantial existing research on the relationship between
farmer attitudes, values, beliefs, and support networks
and the adoption of conservation practices.
• No current research exists examining the relationship
between a farmer having an NRCS conservation plan and
the likelihood that they will adopt conservation practices.
• This project serves to fill that research gap.

9. Department of Sociology
Research Question
• What is the relationship between a farmer having an
NRCS Conservation Plan (independent variable) and
the adoption conservation practices (dependent
variables)?
• Developed research and survey questions in
partnership with NRCS staff (Iowa and national)
• Our primary hypothesis, based on research regarding
farmer information networks and access to technical
assistance through Farm Bill programs (Prokopy et
al. 2008, Reimer and Prokopy 2014), was that having
an NRCS Conservation Plan is positively associated
with the adoption of conservation practices.

10. Department of Sociology
Methods
• This study analyzed survey data from the 2016 wave of
the annual Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll.
• Established in 1982, “The Farm Poll” is an annual
longitudinal panel survey of Iowa farmers.
• The overall objective of the Farm Poll is to understand
how the ongoing changes in Iowa’s agriculture and rural
areas affect farmers and rural society as a whole.

11. Department of Sociology
Methods
• 3 Conservation Practice Categories:
Soil Health Nitrogen Management Structural Practices
• Cover Crops
• No-Till Farming
• Extended Rotations
• In-Season Nitrogen
• Variable Nitrogen
• Nitrogen Stabilizer
• In-field Buffers
• Riparian Buffers
• Terraces

12. Methods
• Binomial logistic regression analysis to explore
the relationship between having an NRCS
conservation plan and adoption of 9 different
conservation practices.
• Controlled for 12 variables that are commonly
associated with conservation adoption in the
scientific literature.
Department of Sociology

13. Results
Variables in the Analysis:
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Variable Name Description
Conservation Plan Farmer has an existing NRCS Conservation Plan
ServCntr Visits Number of times farmer has visited a USDA Service Center for Conservation in the past 2 years
Livestock Farmer manages livestock
Pasture/Hay Farmer manages pasture or hayland
CRP Farmer has acreage enrolled in the NRCS Conservation Reserve Program
Crop Insurance Farmer purchased crop insurance in the previous year
HEL Farmer manages land classified by the NRCS as Highly Erodible
% Crop Ac Rented Percentage of land the farmer manages that is rented
GFI Farmer's reported total gross farm income
Field Crop Acres Number of acres the farmer manages that are involved in field crop production
Gender Farmer's reported gender
Age Farmer's reported age
Stewardship Motive Measure of farmer's motivation to be a good steward of the land

14. Results
Department of Sociology
* p < 0.10 ** p < 0.05 *** p < 0.001

15. Results
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* p < 0.10 ** p < 0.05 *** p < 0.001

16. Results
Department of Sociology
* p < 0.10 ** p < 0.05 *** p < 0.001

17. Conclusions
• Results indicated that having an NRCS
Conservation Plan was only a significant
predictor of adoption of 2 of the 9 practices:
no-till farming and terraces.
• The most consistent predictor of practice use
was number of times a farmer visited a USDA
field office for conservation purposes.
Department of Sociology

18. Conclusions
• Future research should examine conservation
plans in more detail.
• Most plans probably developed in 1980s
• Likely that few were recent, whole-farm
conservation plans
• Future research should examine timing of
plan development, potential linkage to
specific programs (e.g., EQIP, CSP), and
field visits.
• Major take-home message is that interaction
with conservation professionals was the
most consistent predictor of practice
adoption.
Department of Sociology

19. Acknowledgements
• This research was made possible thanks to the
Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics
Experiment Station, Ames, Iowa, which is
supported by USDA/NIFA and State of Iowa
funds.
• The Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll is a
cooperative project between the Iowa State
University Agriculture and Home Economics
Experiment Station, ISU Extension Service and
the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land
Stewardship and is managed by ISU Extension
Sociology.
Department of Sociology

20. Questions?
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21. Theoretical Framework
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Figure 1: Conceptual framework (Arbuckle and Roesch-McNally 2015)