Peer-to-peer learning is an effective and preferred way for farmers to learn new practices. To take advantage of this approach to sharing information, a University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension specialist partnered with colleagues at several land-grant institutions to offer a Land Stewardship Summit in June 2022. The Summit brought together farmers, farm advisors, and conservation professionals from six states across the Mississippi River Basin to share ideas about how farmers can be successful and profitable with soil and water conservation practices. 

The two-day Summit started with a day-long field day featuring two farm tours by farmers who are active in soil and water conservation. These farmers, located near Elkhorn and Janesville, WI, were great examples of farmer leadership. Participants engaged in lively discussions about the challenges and opportunities of practices like cover crops, no-till, and nutrient management. Attendees were able to hear straight talk from the host farmers and learn about the good and challenging parts of conservation.

Day two of the Summit included presentations and panel discussions that mixed the perspectives of researchers, agency representatives, and farmers. Conversation topics ranged from climate impacts to Kernza and producer-led watershed groups to YouTube, with a general focus on the opportunities to increase farmer participation in conservation practices. Initial feedback from farmers included appreciation and excitement over learning from other farmers. Formal project evaluation is underway.

The Summit is the work of a collaborative project that includes the University of Kentucky, Mississippi State University (and their REACH program), University of Wisconsin-Madison (and UW Discovery Farms), University of Illinois, and University of Arkansas (and Arkansas Discovery Farms).

This partnership has been focused on creating opportunities for farmer-to-farmer peer learning about implementing conservation practices in the Mississippi River Basin. Other outputs of their efforts have included One Good Idea, an online clearinghouse of videos and podcasts featuring farmers sharing their experiences with conservation practices; Virtual Shop Talks, a series of virtual meet-ups for farmers about various facets of conservation agriculture; and a mini-grant program that provided support to expand local farmer-led conservation efforts across the Basin.