South Dakota Soil Health Farmers and Ranchers More Optimistic
LESS STRESSED THAN CONVENTIONAL PRODUCERS
By any measure, 2019 was a stressful year for South Dakota farmers and ranchers. But a new poll suggests that a significantly higher percentage of producers who are using soil health-improving practices on their operations experienced less stress, are more satisfied with farming and/or ranching and are more optimistic about their futures than their conventional peers.
Conducted by South Dakota State University, in partnership with the South Dakota Soil Health Coalition, and supported by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, the survey queried both conventional-practice producers and soil health practice producers to assess their stress levels on a range of issues from market price volatility to extreme weather events. They were also asked to assess current and future operation profitability, input cost pressure and natural resource conditions for generational succession.
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