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Increased awareness of the contributions of non point source runoff to the degradation of water quality in the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico emphasizes the need to increase conservation practices that reduce nutrient export from agricultural lands. To achieve long- term conservation goals in agricultural landscapes, it is important to understand farmers' perspectives on what practices are effective, practical, and economically attainable. We conducted a series of surveys, interspersed with focused outreach, of farmers in two agricultural watersheds in central Illinois in an attempt to better understand how outreach influenced their views on and adoption of conservation practices. Programs differed between the two watersheds in terms of the levels of intensity at which outreach efforts were conducted. Survey results suggest that more intensive outreach efforts, such as one- on-one landowner visits, localized workshops, and tours, can increase adoption of conservation practices associated with cost-share programs. Technical and financial assistance provided in a timely manner that did not interfere with planting and harvesting were major incentives among farmers in both watersheds to participate in cosi-share conservation programs. Primary disincentives among farmers to enroll in cost-share programs were associated with multiple programmatic changes and complex application processes. Results indicate that there remains a need for outreach that increases awareness and implementation of conservation and best management practices specific to reducing agricultural runoff from tile-drained sources. Mitigation of non point runoff will also require more effective management of nitrogen application rates and timing in order to conserve freshwater resources in Midwest agricultural landscapes and downstream waters. Integrated outreach teams comprised of stakeholder's and local conservation agencies may lead to successful outreach efforts and reduce demands on limited conservation agency staff time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural drainage ditches are essential for the removal of surface and ground water to allow for crop production in poorly drained agricultural landscapes. Ditches also mediate the flow of pollutants from agroecosystems to downstream water bodies. This paper provides an overview of the science, management, and policy of ditches. Ditches provide a unique opportunity to address nonpoint source pollution problems from agriculture due to the concentration of the contaminants and the engineered nature of ditch systems. A better understanding of the nature of these complex system and the technologies available and under development to improve their management will assist in the design and implementation of water quality protection programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyses of farmland conversion typically rely on data that has been aggregated to a county level. However, the pattern of farmland conversion at the individual parcel level could have important implications for the sustainability of agricultural operations within a limited geographic area. This paper uses data on farm parcels that have withdrawn from Tennessee's differential assessment program to track farmland conversion at the individual tax parcel level for a single east Tennessee county. The pattern and pace of farmland conversion is described over an 18-year period and a metric from the habitat fragmentation literature-edge density-is used to quantify the extent to which this conversion has increased the fragmentation of the county's remaining agricultural lands. Edge density, as used in this paper, provides a relative measure of the extent of the interface between agriculture and other land uses. The results suggest that agricultural lands became more fragmented every year for which data was available, although the extent of this increase varied substantially from one year to the next. More specifically, while conversion to residential use increased fragmentation, conversion to both commercial and industrial uses tended to decrease fragmentation. The data and methodologies employed in this paper, although relatively new to the farmland conversion literature, could prove to be valuable tools in analyzing the conversion of agricultural lands and in designing policies to ameliorate the adverse effects of such conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]