Description: Our team uses the Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework (ACPF) to support individual farmer/landowners, particularly middle adopters, in implementing conservation practices that align with watershed goals. We will share our storytelling-based engagement methods, ACPF-based dashboard (with layers that focus on marginal land), and key takeaways.

Authors: Linda Shenk, Bryce Bearson

Author Bios: Linda Shenk (Professor of English, Iowa State University) conducts community-engaged, transdisciplinary research related to sustainable agriculture and resilience. She applies her background as a Shakespeare professor to conducting collaborative storytelling amongst researchers and farmer/landowners to co-create knowledge and action. Shenk co-leads multiple transdisciplinary research projects, including as a lead investigator for the Central Midwest COLEARN project (part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments/RISA program), the Iowa Nutrient Research Center, and the Iowa Water Center.

Bryce Bearson is an Environmental Science Master’s student at Iowa State University. Her research focuses on collaborations with community partners and the utilization of GIS to solve environmental issues. She is developing a geospatial workflow that address conservation opportunities on marginal land.