Welcome
From the Ground Up is a farmer-led research project to improve the performance of conservation practices in the Midwest.
What are we doing?
Our farmer-led team is working to improve real-world, on-farm performance of conservation practices to ensure they better generate the outcomes – e.g. profitability, yield stability, and protection from extreme weather events – that farmers need.
How are we doing it?
Farmers from across Ohio and Missouri are designing and implementing on-farm research projects that track the agronomic, economic, and environmental performance of conservation practices under working farm conditions. They are partnering with researchers at Ohio State, University of Missouri, Central State University, and Lincoln University to document outcomes and identify innovative solutions that address performance gaps across different types of farms in each state
Our team is also working with local and national stakeholders, and our partners at Solutions from the Land, to improve support for the use of conservation practices and to identify ways to change policies and market incentives to meet the needs of farmers using conservation practices.
We’re working to understand:
- Performance: How well do conservation practices perform under working farm conditions?
- Variability: What on-farm factors explain variability in conservation practices performance?
- Incentives: What off-farm factors need to be addressed to create more incentives to use conservation practices?
Our farmers, researchers, and partners are working FROM THE GROUND UP to improve performance and increase the use of conservation practices across the Midwest, by making conservation practices work better for farmers.
