What’s The Best Word? Farmers and Advisers Share Preferences Around Conservation Agriculture Terms
There’s a constellation of terms to describe the practices and programs that help maintain the natural resources used in the production of crops, livestock and specialty/permanent crops.
To better understand the word choices preferred by farmers and ag retailers/crop advisers, Farm Journal conducted online surveys this fall asking both groups. In all, there was a total of nearly 250 responses. Here’s what they said:
Which term do you most prefer to describe conservation production systems?
- 46% Conservation agriculture
- 36% Sustainable agriculture
- 13% Regenerative agriculture
- 4% Climate-smart agriculture
- 1% Carbon negative or carbon neutral agriculture
[248 responses]
Which term do you least prefer to describe conservation production systems?
- 45% Carbon negative or carbon neutral agriculture
- 35% Climate-smart agriculture
- 7% Conservation agriculture
- 7% Regenerative agriculture
- 6% Sustainable agriculture
[248 responses]
There was not a directional difference between the farmer responses and the responses from agribusinesses.
Of the 50+ responses from ag retailers/crop advisers, top preferred phrases were: conservation agriculture for 40% and sustainable agriculture for 40%.
From the farmer responses, the top choices were conservation agriculture at 48% and sustainable agriculture at 35%.
The least preferred terms were the same for both groups. Reported by farmers, the least preferred was carbon negative or carbon neutral agriculture at 45%, and climate smart was the least preferred term by 37%. The ag retailer/crop adviser respondents patterned similarly: carbon negative or carbon neutral agriculture was least preferred by 43%, and climate smart agriculture was second least preferred at 30% of respondents choosing that option.
Of the 190+ farmers who responded, 52% self-selected as row crop; 30% both row crop and livestock; 9% livestock; and 8% other.
In 2022, America’s Conservation Ag Movement, a Farm Journal initiative, surveyed farmers in Arkansas, California, Indiana, Maryland and Nebraska. Those results showed a similar result: conservation agriculture was the clear choice. “Sustainable agriculture” placed second.
