Adapting An Adaptive Management Project to Agriculture: Starting a Project From Scratch.

Conservation adoption is often simply framed as an economic problem. While incentive payments play an important part in early-stage conservation adoption, or practice experimentation, a conservation implementation strategy based on short-term incentives is arguably insufficient to secure long-term conservation in contemporary agriculture.   The practical aspects of starting an adaptive management project in an agricultural setting entails an understanding of the differences between (a) an adaptive approach and a reductionist approach; and (b) traditional concepts of adaptive management and the use of adaptive management for agriculture. Conservation, then, is framed as adaptive management, which is a process of collaborative learning emphasizing the understanding of complex biological and human systems in decision making for land stewardship. This presentation will reference the development of the Bay Farms On-Farm Network in Chester and Lancaster Counties, Pennsylvania begun by The Environmental Defense Fund. It will conclude with the proposition that adaptive management in agriculture is resolutely tied to the expertise of the farmer practitioner. This changes the role of the professional conservationist from expert to equal participant.