Assessing Farmland Potential for Regenerative Specialty Crop Production: Developing a Digital Decision-Support Tool

Commodities

Practices

This project aims to support the expansion of regenerative agriculture among small-scale producers in the Mississippi Delta region of Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi. Its purpose is to develop a practical, low-cost decision-support tool to assess the potential of farmland for specialty crop production using regenerative principles.

Small-scale farmers often face financial, institutional, social, and environmental challenges when attempting to adopt new practices. Barriers such as limited access to capital for equipment or training, difficulty accessing reliable technical information, resistance due to cultural norms, and extreme weather- related risks can significantly hinder transitions toward regenerative systems, even when farmers are interested in doing so (Carlisle, 2016).

This project will combine field assessments, interviews with producers and agricultural professionals, and geospatial analysis to identify opportunities and constraints for implementing regenerative practices in the region. The outcome will be a practical decision framework tool grounded in real-world conditions and informed by both ecological and social factors. While this proposal focuses on tool development, it also lays the groundwork for a future phase that will generate region-specific recommendations to assist producers in adopting regenerative strategies.

By providing knowledge and accessible pathways for more sustainable transitions, this project supports SSARE's goals of enhancing environmental quality, sustaining the economic viability of farms, and supporting the well-being of rural communities.

Objective 1: Perform comprehensive field assessments and geospatial analyses to identify key biophysical indicators that influence the feasibility of regenerative agriculture practices for specialty crop production in the Mississippi Delta region of Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi.

Rationale: Successful implementation of regenerative practices, such as cover cropping, conservation tillage, compost use, and diversified rotations, depends on a nuanced understanding of farmland-specific conditions, including soil type, drainage, erosion risk, and historical land use. This objective combines field sampling with geospatial mapping to generate data that will anchor the decision-support tool in the physical realities of Delta farmland, thus assuring that recommended practices are ecologically sound and logistically feasible for small-scale producers.

Objective 2: Engage directly with small-scale farmers and agricultural professionals through interviews and participatory research to identify perceived barriers, motivations, and context-specific considerations for adopting regenerative agriculture practices.

Rationale: This objective prioritizes the lived experience of farmers, capturing their insights on many factors such as labor availability, market pressures, cultural attitudes, and policy challenges. Embedding stakeholder perspectives in tool development will increase its usability, practical relevance, and adoption potential. Furthermore, integrating local knowledge ensures that recommendations resonate with farmer goals and constraints.

Objective 3: Design, develop and pilot a user-friendly decision-support tool that integrates spatial, environmental, and social data to help small-scale producers evaluate and prioritize regenerative practices based on their farmland's specific conditions and management goals.

Rationale: This objective will translate research findings into an actionable format -a spreadsheet-based tool or mobile app- that is designed for ease of use in low-resource settings. The tool will generate ranked recommendations based on a customizable interface, guiding farmers in identifying the most suitable regenerative practices for their specific conditions. Piloting the tool with partner farmers will refine its accuracy, usability, and impact. Ultimately, this tool aims to reduce the complexity and uncertainty of transitioning to regenerative systems while enhancing farm resilience. A priority in the design is to keep it accessible and simple for producers with limited internet access or digital familiarity.