Minnesota farmers are asked to complete an online survey about conservation on their farms.

The effort is led by the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council and Houston Engineering in an attempt to compile data and evaluate current programs.

“Our objective is to evaluate voluntary, on-farm conservation programs,” says Drew Kessler, Houston Engineering’s senior environment analyst and project manager. “Each year, millions of dollars are invested in conservation efforts to provide clean water and a better environment for Minnesota, yet there is more work to be done.”

The survey, which takes about 20 minutes to complete, includes questions that ask farmers’ opinions about different types of conservation practices, if practices are properly placed in locations, if assistance is timely and available, and who has the greatest influence on conservation practices in their areas.

The idea for the survey came from Minnesota Soybean’s environmental stewardship action team, says Drew Lyon, Minnesota Soybean marketing and communications specialist. The action team helped with the 2016 Water Restoration and Protection Strategies handbook, which explains the state’s WRAPS process and reports, and encourages farmer participation. Action team members have the next 10-year cycle of watershed monitoring led by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency on their radar. Accordingly, they want to learn what conservation practices are working — and why.

“The action team wanted to take a proactive look at what voluntary practices we can offer farmers,” Lyon says. “Rather than telling farmers what practices to do, they tell us what we’re looking for.”

That information will provide data for Houston Engineering to draw a “conservation road map” to guide future practices and investments.

Adds Kessler: “We encourage all farmers concerned about conservation to participate in this survey. We need to hear farmers’ stories. The more data we can get, the more accurate and useful our conservation road map will be for Minnesota farmers.”

After the survey data is completed, MSR&PC and Houston Engineering will provide a conservation road map, which is expected to be completed by summer this year.

Take the survey at bit.ly/MSRPCandHoustonEngineeringsurvey.