This readme.txt file was generated on by Recommended citation for the data: ------------------- GENERAL INFORMATION ------------------- 1. Title of Dataset: "Match Made In Heaven" Integrated Crop and Livestock Farmers Survey, North Central U.S., 2023-2024 2. Author Information Principal Investigator Contact Information Name: Erin Meier Institution: Green Lands, Blue Waters/Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture Address: 411, 1991 Upper Buford Cir Borlaug Hall, St Paul, MN 55108 Email: tegtm003@umn.edu ORCID: 0000-0002-2317-2476 Associate or Co-investigator Contact Information Name: Nadia Assad Institution: University of Wisconsin Survey Center Address: 4408 Sterling Hall, 475 N. Charter St., Madison, WI 53706 Email: assad@wisc.edu ORCID: 0000-0002-2744-7692 Associate or Co-investigator Contact Information Name: Gigi DiGiacomo Institution: University of Minnesota Dept. of Applied Economics Address: 146H Ruttan Hall, 1994 Buford Ave., St. Paul, MN 55108 Email: gigid@umn.edu ORCID: 0000-0003-0301-7361 3. Date published or finalized for release: August 12, 2024 4. Date of data collection (single date, range, approximate date) 2023 -2024 5. Geographic location of data collection (where was data collected?): North Central, U.S. (Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin) 6. Information about funding sources that supported the collection of the data: The project was coordinated by the Midwest Perennial Forage Working Group (MPFWG) of Green Lands Blue Waters. All work was funded by the USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program (grant #3002-11029-00098541). 7. Overview of the data (abstract): This survey is part of the Match Made in Heaven (MMIH) project that seeks to foster re-integration of livestock and grain production systems in the North Central, U.S. Region by generating information on producer production practices, attitudes, and goals. One of the project deliverables were qualitative results from this producer survey which will be used to help guide the development of educational programming and other activities aimed at promoting environmental, economic, and social benefits of integrated livestock and crop systems in the North Central, U.S. Region. Primary data from the integrated crop and livestock survey are available here. Data were generated by a 60-question survey fielded in 2023-2024 to crop and livestock producers by the University of Wisconsin Survey Center (UWSC) using online Qualtrics software and paper questionnaires. Survey results were compiled by the University of Minnesota using Qualtrics software and downloaded into Microsoft Excel for de-identification, cleaning and further analysis. All data was cleaned to remove responses that were less than 90% complete yielding a total of 560 responses. The survey was designed to gather demographic information from all respondents and to allow specific, in-depth questions for different sub-groups of farmers, such as those currently producing "crops only," "livestock only," or "crops + livestock." "Livestock only" farmers were asked about their grazing management and their interest in and attitudes toward partnering with crop farmers to graze cover crops, crop aftermath or rent land for pasture. Likewise, "crop only" farmers were asked about their interest in and attitudes toward incorporating livestock enterprises into their operations, allowing livestock farmers to graze cover crops or crop aftermath, or incorporating harvested forage crops into their crop rotations. Both groups were asked about incentives, market and processing availability, and policies related to adoption of these practices. -------------------------- SHARING/ACCESS INFORMATION -------------------------- 1. Licenses/restrictions placed on the data: None 2. Links to publications that cite or use the data: TBD 3. Was data derived from another source? No, this is primary data. If yes, list source(s): 4. Terms of Use: Data Repository for the U of Minnesota (DRUM) By using these files, users agree to the Terms of Use. https://conservancy.umn.edu/pages/policies/#drum-terms-of-use --------------------- DATA & FILE OVERVIEW --------------------- 1. File List A. Filename: MMIH Survey Data Short description: Survey data responses from 570 crop and livestock producers throughout the North Central, U.S. regarding their use of and interest in integrated crop+livestock production systems. B. Filename: Short description: C. Filename: Short description: 2. Relationship between files: -------------------------- METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION -------------------------- 1. Description of methods used for collection/generation of data: A 60-question survey questionnaire was developed using the Tailored Design Method by the Match Made In Heaven project team in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin Survey Center (UWSC). The survey questionnaire was designed and fielded by UWSC using Qualtrics software and structured primarily for online deployment. The survey was also formatted and made available to partner organizations in paper form for distribution at farm events and via direct mail. The UWSC met with the project team to advise on outreach strategies to maximize the response rate. Each project project partner conducted outreach and distribution of the survey among their members and audiences. Survey promotion was a collaborative effort among the projects 100+ partners. All partners were given access to an online “survey promotion toolkit” that contained: a press release, a template for an email campaign, a variety of professionally designed advertisements for print/digital (postcards, flyers, social media posts), a variety of images and text blurbs that could be added to any newsletter, individual PPT slides that could be dropped into any presentation, a full PPT slide deck with recorded presentation, a professionally printable educational infographic handout with a QR link to the survey, a PDF version of the survey that could be printed & returned by mail, and a template for a ’networking’ email that could be used to recruit additional partners to the project effort. $1000 stipends were available to offset costs of promotion if needed but few partners requested the stipend. Partners used the toolkit materials to promote at conferences, workshops, and on-farm events throughout the 6 states, as well as in newsletters and social media. Only about 25% of partners recorded data on their outreach numbers, but that data showed that the survey promotion reached over 60k farmers. Most promotion was virtual but a particular hands-on effort was made by MN Cow-Calf Days who put paper copies directly into the hands of event attendees, set aside event time for attendees to complete the survey, and then batch collected/returned them. This effort yielded the greatest return: ~180 of total responses came from the series of MN CCD events. 2. Methods for processing the data: 3. Instrument- or software-specific information needed to interpret the data: Qualtrics and Microsoft Excel 4. Standards and calibration information, if appropriate: 5. Environmental/experimental conditions: 6. Describe any quality-assurance procedures performed on the data: The survey questionnaire was reviewed for quality assurance and questionnaire logic using built-in Qualtrics software tools. Collected data was validated by reviewing for and removing all test responses, duplicate responses, and those responses with less than a 90% survey completion rate. 7. People involved with sample collection, processing, analysis and/or submission: Amy Fenn, Match Made In Heaven project coordinator; Nadia Assad, University of Wisconsin Survey Center, senior project director; Gigi DiGiacomo, University of Minnesota, research fellow. ----------------------------------------- DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: [FILENAME] ----------------------------------------- 1. Number of variables: 294 2. Number of cases/rows: 560 3. Missing data codes: Code/symbol NA Definition No answer or does not apply Code/symbol Definition 4. Variable List A. Name: Description: Value labels if appropriate B. Name: Description: Value labels if appropriate