This video demonstrates how conservation professionals can apply social science and behavior change principles to agricultural outreach. The Kankakee County Soil and Water Conservation District in Illinois shares its approach to developing soil health events around the specific problems and motivations of local farmers. A farmer describes how cover crops have helped address challenges on his operation, while a conservation professional discusses the importance of listening to farmers, understanding their motivations, and using that information to shape outreach and events.
The National Wildlife Federation has created the following resources in collaboration with this research:
- SMART Planning
- Logic Models for Conservation Outreach Planning
- Types of Evaluation Surveys
- Framing Outreach Events
- Outreach Communications Planning
- Practice Characteristics and Their Impact on Adoption Decisions Worksheet
- Theory of Planned Behavior Video
- Diffusion of Innovations Video
- Outreach in Action: The Roots
- Outreach in Action: Solving Problems with Cover Crops
- Outreach in Action: Tammy and Darwin
- Growing Outreach: Motivations First
Want more information? See the related SARE grant:
- Improved sustainable agriculture outreach through behavior-change focused outreach toolkit (ENC20-194)
This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture through the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or U.S. Government determination or policy.