The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is hoping to gain a better understanding of forest and grazing conservation practices.
To do this, the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) are participating in a joint project called the Conservation Practice Adoption Motivations Survey (CPAMS). It will be mailed to 43,000 forest and grazing landowners and managers across the nation this summer in an effort to gather information to understand why people choose to use different conservation practices, and whether they continue to use practices over time.
NASS has started mailing invitations to respond early online, and then will mail questionnaires on July 8th with the option for survey recipients to respond online, by mail, or fax. A data highlights publication is scheduled for October 2024.
Four different conservation categories are researched through CPAMS overall: crop practices, confined livestock practices, grazing practices and forestry practices, but this year only grazing and forestry practices are in the survey.
“Your input will help improve our voluntary conservation programs, including technical and financial assistance,” said NRCS Chief Terry Cosby. “By responding to CPAMS, you also help document and give credit to your ongoing stewardship of America’s agricultural forest land resources.”