NRCS Practices for Producers

Project Goals and Results

Our goal is simple: make it easier for North Carolina producers and landowners to learn about, try, and adopt NRCS conservation practices that work on real farms and forests. We do this by partnering with producers and local organizations to host hands-on demonstrations, multi-site tours, and by building practical tools that lower paperwork and knowledge barriers.

Mobile App

A practical, offline-friendly producer navigator that helps North Carolina farmers and landowners understand, plan, and implement NRCS conservation practices.

What it will do:

Browse practices by enterprise (vegetables, livestock, forestry) with photo-rich North Carolina examples
What it takes: eligibility checklists, typical timelines, cost-share ranges, required documents, and prep tips
Who to call: county-level contacts for NRCS, Extension, and conservation partners
Events and deadlines: calendar of local field days plus reminders for key dates
Built for the farm: offline-friendly, English/Spanish content, quick save of notes and photos for later use in applications

Video Series

We’re producing a short, high-impact film series to teach vegetable producers, livestock producers, and forestry landowners how conservation practices perform on real North Carolina operations.

What the series will include:

3–7 minute stories featuring North Carolina producers and NRCS planners explaining the why, what, and how
Clear walk-throughs of costs, benefits, maintenance, and available cost-share
Before/after visuals at demonstration sites and candid lessons learned
Emphasis on strategies that reduce risk, improve soil and water, and fit seasonal realities

How we’ll share:

Posted on our site and partner channels
Clips repurposed inside the mobile app so producers can learn on the go

Research Findings

Alongside outreach, we’re conducting applied research to understand barriers to accessing NRCS programs in North Carolina and to identify which practices are most accessible and successful across the state.

What we’re studying:

Mixed methods: NRCS program data review, producer and planner interviews, listening sessions in priority counties, and case studies at demonstration sites
Focus areas: awareness, paperwork and documentation, timing and cash flow, language access, and availability of technical assistance

Check out this pdf to read about some of our initial findings that have helped us strategize our outreach efforts.NCCOP Outreach Analysis & Planning Doc

Emerging themes:

Common hurdles: navigating paperwork, variable wait times, and limited bandwidth for in-person visits
What helps: peer examples on working farms, locally rooted navigators, bilingual materials, step-by-step checklists, and small stipends for producer time

Our colleagues at the Rural Advancement Fund International (RAFI) also published this article about barriers to NRCS practices.