Agricultural conservation practices are central to achieving Chesapeake Bay watershed restoration goals, yet long-term adoption remains challenging even when practices are technically effective and financial assistance is available. Adoption is not a single decision, but a staged and context-dependent process. Awareness and willingness to commitment, implementation, and persistence, are all important. Progress along this pathway is influenced by interacting factors such as knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, social norms, trust, perceived risk, farm characteristics, and practical constraints. Improving adoption requires outreach strategies that respond to the specific factors limiting progress at each stage rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all approach.
This report summarizes the January 2021 STAC virtual workshop Advancing Outreach Effectiveness to Improve Conservation Practice Adoption, which brought together farmers and land managers, technical service providers, conservation district and agency staff, nonprofit practitioners, funders, researchers, and program managers. The final document synthesizes presentations, facilitated discussions, participant reflections, and survey responses to develop a framework connecting outreach actions, decision factors, and conservation adoption outcomes. Recommendations focus on tailoring outreach to different stages of adoption; investing in trusted relationships and locally relevant information; addressing “last mile” barriers such as paperwork, permitting, contractor coordination, and maintenance; strengthening practitioner-researcher partnerships; and using structured decision making, simple modeling, and “learn-while-doing” approaches to improve outreach investments over time. Workshop webpage with related materials.
Suggested Citation:
Boomer, K., A. Jacobs, C. Conn, R. Krusemark, J. Reilly, M. Runge, C. Weigel, R. Wilson, P. Wolfe, L. Prokopy, and C. Hiers. 2026. Advancing Outreach Effectiveness to Improve Conservation Practice Adoption. STAC Publication Number 26-005, Edgewater, MD. 59 pp.