WCROC Farm Sustainability Project: Considering Online Decision Support Tools

Abstract

The University of Minnesota’s West Central Research and Outreach Center (WCROC) is aiming to provide an online decision support tool to farmers that will help them improve the sustainability and resiliency of their operations. A team of graduate students at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public affairs researched the use and uptake of online decision support tools for farm sustainability in order to provide recommendations to help achieve this goal. While there are often economic and policy barriers to adopting sustainable practices, social and cultural factors that shape a farmer’s knowledge and beliefs are often more important influences on farming practices. Adoption of sustainable practices often occurs as a result of information gained from new social relationships with other agriculture professionals, particularly other farmers. At a time when sustainable agriculture policy, incentives, and metrics are rapidly evolving, we believe WCROC can best meet its goals by working with farmers to consider the design elements of an online decision support tool, focusing on the key variables including accessibility and ease of use. Additionally, a WCROC platform should provide a platform which builds farmers’ social capital and enhances farmer-to-farmer communication and learning. Providing a forum that captures and shares farmers’ personal knowledge and experiences will help farmers engage with the online tool and convert new knowledge into new farming practices.