New Trainings Aim to Close Knowledge Gaps About Financial Impacts of Conservation Agriculture Practices
Conservation professionals and farm business management educators are among farmers’ key partners in ensuring their operations are sustainable and profitable. While each brings different expertise to their collaborations with farmers, one thing they have in common is generally limited knowledge about the financial impacts of conservation practices.
A new duo of trainings aims to help close these knowledge gaps, and registration is now open for them.
What You Need to Know to Help Farmers Do Conservation Profitably is a free training for conservation professionals and educators from university Extension, county or state government, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, NRCS, or non-profits. It will take place July 11th and 13th, 2023 from 10:00am to 11:30am CT each day.
The Economics of Agricultural Conservation Practices and How to Talk to Farmers About It is a free training for farm business management educators from Extension, technical colleges, or other relevant institutions. It will take place July 24th and 26th, 2023 also from 10:00am to 11:30am CT each day.
The trainings are intended to increase participants’ knowledge and confidence to support farmers’ decisions about implementing cover crops, conservation tillage, and/or managed grazing. These practices can improve soil health and water resources, and there is growing evidence that farmers can implement them while maintaining their operation’s profitability.
For full details about the trainings and to register, visit https://soilhealthnexus.org/financial-impacts-trainings/.
These trainings are made possible by a Professional Development Program grant from North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NCR-SARE). The project is a collaboration between the North Central Region Water Network, University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension, University of Minnesota, Environmental Defense Fund, Compeer Financial, and Croatan Institute.
While the project’s geographic scope is Wisconsin and Minnesota, conservation professionals/educators and farm business management educators from other North Central Region states are welcome to register for the trainings.
The project team is also developing and delivering trainings on the same topic to agricultural lenders, another key partner that can help farmers do conservation profitably.
Header image courtesy Wisconsin Discovery Farms.