Barriers to Adoption of Prairie Strips: Farmer Perspectives

Commodities

Practices

Title: Barriers to Adoption of Prairie Strips: Farmer
Perspectives

Agriculture is a primary land use in the Midwest, United States
and Michigan benefits from a diverse fruit and crop industry. To
maintain productivity, Michigan farmers employ agricultural
management practices, including synthetic pesticides,
fertilizers, and tillage for weed and pest management. However,
intensive agriculture has led to a decline in wildlife habitat
and biological diversity. One potential solution is the
establishment of prairie strips, or perennial prairie plantings
within row-crop agriculture that enhance ecosystem services such
as soil health, pest predation, and pollination. Prairie strips
uniquely benefit both the farming community and agricultural
systems by reducing the need for intensive agricultural
practices, while providing necessary habitat for ecosystem health
and resiliency.

However, adoption among farmers in Michigan remains low. Here, I
propose a community engaged research project to address the
question: What are the opportunities and barriers to
adoption of prairie strips in Michigan? I will collaborate
with Conservation Districts and the Michigan Farm Bureau in
several Michigan counties to host interviews and focus groups. By
partnering with local organizations for this community engaged
project, we can target conservation-oriented farmers and utilize
a “place-based” approach for discussion and data collection.
Interviews and focus groups will take place late fall to winter
2024-25 depending on farmer availability. The development,
implementation, and evaluation of the interviews and focus groups
will include input from partnering Conservation Districts and the
Michigan Farm Bureau to better reflect the priorities within
their districts. I further propose to work with MSU-Extension
MiSTRIPS and other MSU students and faculty to carry out
demonstrations, presentations, and group facilitation. Summary
and analysis of these discussions will be published and presented
to Conservation Districts, Michigan Farm Bureau, MSU Extension,
and participating farmers.

This community-engaged research project will benefit both the
farming community and the academic community. We hope to better
understand what continues to encourage or prevent farmers from
adoption of conservation practices such as prairie plantings or
strips. While the qualitative analysis of this project will
inform the academic community on next steps, the results will
also be shared with local farming communities to support the
Conservation District's efforts to increase sustainable
agricultural practices within their districts. 

By engaging directly with farmers, this project will improve a)
the understanding of the opportunities and barriers to adoption
of prairie strips in Michigan on the part of MSU researchers and
extension; and b) improve the access to knowledge and resources
on prairie strips as a conservation practice on Michigan farms on
the part of participating farmers. Through a series of interviews
and focus groups, farmers will discuss prairie strips and gain
access to a community of conservation-oriented farmers and
programs with similar goals. By collaborating with MiSTRIPS,
farmer participants gain access to a larger conservation network.
 

The long term, sustainable outcomes of this project will include
the change in Michigan’s agricultural landscape to include both
more conservation-oriented farmers and diversity in farming
practices. By engaging with farmers directly to identify
opportunities and addressing place-based barriers to adoption of
prairie strips, this project will lead to an increase in the
number of Michigan farms and acreage enrolled in the Conservation
Reserve Program (CRP) of the US Farm Bill, in particular CRP-43
which provides monetary incentives for farmers converting
previously arable land to prairie strips. Presenting my research
at Conservation District and Farm Bureau meetings, as well as
farmer education days held by partnering organizations will
facilitate trust and partnerships between MSU researchers,
MSU-extension, Conservation Districts, and participating farmers.
Lastly, to adapt for an inconsistent climatic and economic
future, this project will facilitate the adoption of a “resilient
mindset” through place-based, regenerative agricultural
management on Michigan farms.