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WORKING WITH FARMERS FOR HEDGE ROW IMPLEMENTATION
Author
Vogel, Garrett W.
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2015
Body

I report on my time interning with the United State's Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service negotiating hedge row implementation on farms to recruit beneficial insects and wildlife. While hedge row usefulness in attracting pollinating and pest-fighting insects, aiding in biodiversity, and providing a variety of other benefits for agricultural areas is a fact, there still remains the challenge of convincing farmers to utilize this them on their farms. Through group and individual meetings with farmers from San Benito and Santa Clara counties, I shadowed the NRCS staff as they broke down cultural, lingual, and generational barriers to spread their knowledge about hedge row benefits and successfully advocated for their implementation. Conclusions: The negotiation techniques were largely successful. Field visits helped to paint a picture of what hedgerows could do to better their fields through improved pollination, supplying habitat for other beneficial wildlife, and a variety of other ecological services as well as helped visualize what their fields would look like when they were planted. A field visit with representatives of Willoughby Farms in Gilroy, CA for example tremendously helped the clients to visualize where and how hedgerows can be utilized on their farm. Providing well-detailed packets and notes about the benefits of hedgerows also greatly helped farmers to ask questions and understand the benefits of hedge rows, and greatly helped the clients of a different oak tree recruitment workshop to get more involved.  

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Sacramento, CA
Collection
SRM Annual Meeting Abstracts