Farmers’ Views on Farming & Its Future in the Southern Chesapeake Bay Watershed

Farmers’ Views on Farming & Its Future in the Southern Chesapeake Bay Watershed

As part of the external evaluation of the Thriving Ag Project, researchers from Utah State University conducted an online survey of farmers predominantly in the southern half of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed (CBW) on their views of agriculture during the summer of 2022. Similar to a survey of residents of the CBW conducted in 2021, the online and mail survey asked about respondents’ levels of awareness of and views on water quality issues in local streams and waterways and the Chesapeake Bay in general. Questions also investigated agricultural producers' perceptions of causes of water quality issues, how to address water quality issues, and the future of agriculture in urbanized areas (including their knowledge and intention to continue using various Best Management Practices (BMPs)), their views and perceptions of Nutrient Management Plans, views on how agriculture can be sustainable in an urbanized landscape, their views and concerns about the loss of agricultural land, and attitudes about the urbanization of agriculture in the CBW including scenarios developed by the Thriving Agriculture research team (https:/thrivingag.org/) to ensure agriculture is economically viable and environmentally sustainable in the future. The response rate was 16.2%, with 371 producers participating. Please click here to find a descriptive report from the survey of CBW farmers.