USDA Conducting Survey on Conservation Practices

USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) are conducting the 2025 Conservation Effects Assessment Project survey, reaching out to farmers, ranchers, and agricultural landowners to gather in-depth information about the conservation practices they use. Local NASS representatives will visit farmers and agricultural landowners in August and September of 2025 to determine if their operations and properties meet the criteria to be considered eligible candidates for the survey. Eligible farmers and landowners may be contacted between November 2025 and March 2026 and asked to participate in the survey. Typical questions will discuss farm production practices; chemical, fertilizer, and manure applications; tillage; irrigation use; and installed conservation practices. Nearly 23,000 operators nationwide will receive the survey. Data obtained will support the third set of national and regional cropland assessments delivered by USDA’s Conservation Effects Assessment Project, a multi-agency effort led by NRCS to quantify the effects of conservation practices across the nation’s working lands.