Producer Soil Health Survey

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The Virginia Association of Biological Farming supports the four principles of soil health: keep soil covered, minimize soil disturbance, maximize living roots, and energize with diversity. As part of our effort to promote soil health-building principles, please tell us more about yourself and farming operation. If you would like to be entered into a drawing for a free ticket to the 2024 VABF conference please provide your email below. If you completed the survey in-person at the conference and would like to be entered into the drawing please email Mary Sketch Bryant at msketch2@vt.edu. Thank you!

Definitions:

Continuous grazing: livestock are rarely or never moved off their designated pasture throughout the year.

Rotational grazing: livestock are moved frequently (every 1-14 days) to a new paddock, with paddock rest periods over 30 days.

Management intensive grazing: A flexible systems approach to grazing where animal nutritional needs, plant growth (rest and recovery) and stock densities are all managed and considered.

MOB grazing: A more intensive form of rotational grazing with ultra-high stocking densities and involves moving cattle at least daily between small paddocks with longer rest periods (45 days or longer).

Continuous no-till: The planting of crops without the use of any prior tillage. Seeds are planted in narrow slots that are made using disk openers, or coulters.

Cover crops: A crop grown after the main cropping season. Cover crops are usually killed on the surface, harvested, or incorporated into the soil before they mature.

Name/farm name

County, state

How many years have you been farming?

Approximately how much cropland do you manage? (acres)

Pastureland?

Hayland?

For crop producers, approximately how much cropland do you have in continuous no-till? (Acres)

For crop producers, on approximately how much cropland do you use cover crops? (acres)

For farmers who graze livestock, approximately how many acres of each type of grazing system (continuous grazing, rotational grazing, management intensive grazing, and mob grazing) do you manage? (Please list type of grazing system and acres managed)

For farmers who graze livestock, which of the following are reasons why you are not interested in rotational grazing practices?

I do not have enough time to move livestock.

I do not have fencing or water infrastructure in place to rotate livestock.

I do not believe it is cost effective.

What I do currently is working well and I do not need to change.

I do not have help/labor to help move livestock

I supplement with other feedstuffs and it is not conducive to rotate livestock away from feeding facilities.

I do not know anything about this practice.

It's too hard to implement on my land.

I tried it before and it did not work.

N/A, I manage all of my pastureland with rotational grazing.

Other:

Clear selection

As a result of this training/session, do you plan to increase adoption of no-till or reduced till practices?

Yes

Clear selection

If yes, on how many acres do you plan to implement no-till or reduced till practices?

As a result of this training/session, do you plan to adopt cover crop practices?

Yes

N/A- I already

Clear selection

If yes, on how many acres do plan to adopt cover crop practices?

If you graze livestock, as a result of this training/session, do you plan to transition from continuous grazing management to rotational, mob, or management intensive grazing?

Yes

N/A- I already manage all of my acreage with rotational, mob, or management intensive grazing.

Clear selection

If yes, on how many acres do plan to adopt rotational, mob, or management intensive grazing?

Optional Questions

The following questions are optional, but helpful in providing insight into the landscape of production and soil health across Virginia

What other soil health-building practices do you currently use on your land? (e.g. compost or biochar application, crop rotation, nutrient management, reduced pesticide use, etc.) and on how many acres?

What additional soil health-building and regenerative farming topics are you interested in learning more about?

If you would like to be entered into the drawing for a free year of VABF membership or ticket to the 2024 Annual Conference please provide your email below.

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