Insights from Michigan agricultural professionals to advance farm conservation
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EmailThrough focus groups and surveys, a new MSU Extension report outlines some priority questions agricultural, conservation and agribusiness professionals in Michigan have about conservation practices.
A newly published report from Michigan State University Extension offers a window into the questions and concerns Michigan agricultural professionals have about conservation agriculture. The report synthesizes insights from focus groups and surveys with advisers, educators and conservation professionals across the state in 2023.
The goal? To better align research, outreach and technical support with the real-world challenges farmers and their technical advisers face when adopting conservation practices like no-till, cover crops and diversified rotations.
Why this report matters
Michigan farmers are increasingly interested in conservation practices that protect soil, water and long-term productivity. However, according to Michigan Agriculture Advancement, 2021, adoption remains low due to a mix of agronomic, economic, ecological and social barriers. This report identifies the specific knowledge gaps that hinder adoption as identified by technical experts, agronomists and experienced farmers who work alongside farmers who are new to or hesitant to use conservation practices.
Key barriers include:
- Concerns about yield loss, pest pressure and profitability.
- Uncertainty about how practices perform under extreme weather or with annual variability.
- Lack of region-specific examples and economic data.
- Social resistance and time constraints for implementation.
Five priority areas for research and outreach
The report highlights five core themes where Michigan’s agricultural professionals want more support:
- Conservation practices and systems – Advisers want local examples, risk assessments and economic data to help farmers troubleshoot the added complexity of different conservation systems. Data on conservation practices through a perspective of farm systems, stacked practices and on-farm customization would help agricultural professionals to better apply conservation practices in the field.
- Cover crops – There is a strong demand for guidance on integrating cover crops after late harvests, investing in species (and varieties) with proven benefits in Michigan, and balancing the economic and agronomic value of cover crops.
- No-till – While continuous no-till farming has shown many system and environmental benefits, many Michigan farmers rely on rotational or reduced tillage. Advisers want comparative research on long-term outcomes and measurable environmental benefits from diverse tillage approaches in Michigan.
- Time – Increased fieldwork, learning curves and delayed payoffs remain large deterrents to implementing conservation practices. Advisers want tools and research to help farmers implement short-term successes and set realistic expectations of conservation practice impact over time.
- Soil health – Soil health has become a featured topic for many years and many advisors want to now understand the concept on a new level. Increasingly, agricultural professionals would like to know which soil health indicators can inform management decisions and how to best tailor on-farm practices across diverse cropping systems to improve agronomic, economic, and soil health outcomes.
While most responses focused on annual field crop systems, the report also highlights the need for conservation strategies in perennial and specialty crop systems. One participant noted that some perennial crop growers rely on integrated pest management to address conservation goals and may be unaware of broader conservation options that could enhance soil health and resource sustainability or may view them as too risky.
What’s next
The report is already being used to outline opportunities to revisit over 30 years of agroecological research data at Michigan State University’s (MSU) Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site with a goal to generate stakeholder-facing materials. This work also supports and underlines priorities currently being pursued by MSU’s Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) site and the site’s collaborators.
Many of these questions require long-term and regionally specific data to answer. Continued statewide collaboration to co-create credible, relevant and practical solutions is also required. Hopefully, this assessment can be used by a diverse range of stakeholders to further both ongoing and new programs that directly address these practitioner-identified needs.
This assessment was made possible through funding from the Advancing Public Engagement Across LTERs (APEAL) grant and through internal grant funding at MSU Extension. Support for the project was also provided by the Kellogg Biological Station’s LTER program and the LTAR program. Thank you to partners at the Michigan Association of Conservation Districts, Michigan Association of Extension Agents, Great Lakes Crop Summit and Michigan Agriculture Advancement for making the focus groups and surveying possible.
