Conservation practice use by U.S. agricultural producers: leveraging diverse data sources and methods to improve coverage and timeliness of estimates

As part of the Inflation Reduction Act Greenhouse Gas Quantification work being implemented at USDA, USDA’s Economic Research Service and National Agricultural Statistics Service are co-leading an initiative to improve the spatial and temporal coverage of national conservation activity data. Conservation activity (or practice) data include data on agricultural practices such as soil tillage, cover crops, fertilizer and nutrient management, and livestock production practices. These data are used as part of the USDA Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Assessment Program, by USDA program agencies such as the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and by other stakeholders. This talk will discuss efforts to use and integrate USDA Census, survey, and administrative data, as well as earth observation and geospatial data for this work—and discuss challenges and opportunities.

About the speaker
Maria Bowman is an Economist in the Conservation and Environment Branch of the Rural and Resource Economics Division at USDA’s Economic Research Service. She studies the economic and environmental impacts of conservation and soil health management in U.S. agriculture, and co-leads a USDA Inflation Reduction Act Greenhouse Gas Quantification Action Area charged with improving the spatial and temporal coverage of national conservation activity data.