TY - JOUR T1 - Increasing agricultural conservation outreach through social science JF - Journal of Soil and Water Conservation SP - 56A LP - 59A DO - 10.2489/jswc.2022.0516A VL - 77 IS - 4 AU - Jessica Espenshade AU - Adam Reimer AU - Lekha Knuffman Y1 - 2022/07/01 UR - http://www.jswconline.org/content/77/4/56A.abstract N2 - While agriculture is necessary for global food and fiber production, many farming practices can contribute to environmental degradation, including nutrient pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and degraded soil quality (Davidson et al. 2015; Swinton et al. 2007). Achieving agricultural sustainability goals in the United States relies in large part on voluntary conservation efforts by farmers (Claassen et al. 2013; Reimer 2015). Federal taxpayers have funded over US$40 billion since 1995 in agricultural conservation programs, and an increasing number of farmers are looking to sustainable agriculture methods in light of the environmental impacts of intensive agriculture (EWG 2015; Prokopy et al. 2019). Recent efforts have focused on in-field practices that improve soil structure and function, framed as soil health. These practices include no-till, cover crops, rotational grazing, and diverse crop rotations, among others. While these practices have environmental benefits individually, benefits can be magnified through their combined use (Lal 2015).To support the voluntary uptake of conservation practices by landowners and agricultural producers, public, private, and civil society institutions have provided ongoing conservation outreach and technical support for many decades. For example, the USDA alone, through the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), invested US$750 million in conservation technical assistance in 2018 (USDA 2019). The traditional conservation outreach model is largely based in post-Dust Bowl efforts to improve soil management practices. This includes ongoing communications through print and digital media, one-on-one conservation planning, field days and demonstrations, networking events, and conferences (Pape and Prokopy 2017). This traditional outreach model relies heavily on research and technical expertise generated at public institutions, such as federal and state agricultural agencies, locally based soil and water conservation districts, … ER -