Building on the foundation of an in-person farmer exchange held in 2020, land-grant partners in the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River basin pivoted due to the pandemic to offer a series of virtual farmer exchanges in winter 2021. These events were part of an EPA-supported, multi-state project to facilitate peer learning among farmers about conservation. The University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service led the planning of this event, which brought together farmers and natural resources managers from across the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River basin. 

The Virtual Farmer Shop Talk series was offered as four stand-alone events on a Zoom platform. Topics included conservation finance, nutrient management planning, on-farm trials, and farmer successes with conservation practices. Each event featured a panel of expert and farmer speakers followed by facilitated discussion among attendees. The final event featured an all-farmer panel with farmers sharing their experiences with conservation practices. The series attracted nearly 200 participants from 18 unique states, with each session recorded and made available online for later viewing. Farmers represented row crop, large and small livestock, and fresh market produce operations.

Post-workshop evaluations indicated that 89% of respondents learned about practices that would save money are their farms; 78% learned about a resource to help them implement conservation practices; and 89% gained confidence in their ability to effectively implement conservation practices.

Successes of the series include expanding the technological capacity of the implementation team for virtual events, building of social capital among the team members, broadening the geographical reach of the project, and facilitating meaningful conversations for peer-to-peer learning. Several farmers commented on how refreshing it was to learn from other farmers even when production practices were varied by geography and commodity.

The project team learned several valuable lessons from these virtual farmer exchanges: 1) farmers need a network of peers to support them in the implementation of conservation practices; 2) high-quality, content-rich conversations among a few farmers are far more important than the overall number of participants; 3) farmers are open to virtual learning when it provides opportunities for meaningful information exchange; and 4) virtual platforms are a valuable tool for conservation practice peer-to-peer learning. 

Peer-to-peer learning is an effective and preferred way for farmers to learn new practices. In addition to this event, the project is facilitating farmer-to-farmer learning through a mini-grant program to establish or expand demonstration sites and an online platform for farmers to connect digitally.