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September 2, 2026Conservation Science and PracticeOpen Access

Empowering practitioners working at the agriculture–conservation interface

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Authors

AJAdam K. JankeJBJulia A. BakerCDCatherine DeLong

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Overview

Cohort evaluation study reveals professional training improves empathy and communication self-efficacy in conservation practitioners, suggesting a pathway to accelerate agricultural conservation...

Key Points

  • To evaluate whether a targeted professional development program enhances conservation practitioners' understanding of agricultural production systems and empowers them to increase private-land conservation adoption.
  • Two cohorts of conservation practitioners (n = 20 and n = 23) from 17 organizations completed 20–21 training sessions in one U.S. state facing severe agricultural environmental impacts.
  • The curriculum integrated interactive instruction, multidisciplinary experts, and direct engagement with farmers to examine agricultural systems and behavioral psychology.
  • Overall, 98% of participants reported that the program improved their practitioner effectiveness, with majorities reporting increased knowledge of agriculture (100%), behavior change (95%), private land decision making (90%), and conservation (85%).
  • Participants achieved a +24.9% increase in empathy toward farmers, a +15.3% improvement in communication self-efficacy, and a +49.4% increase in their intention to apply behavior change principles.

Cite This Study

Janke et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a97e28dc562ede874ec6b39https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70391
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Also Consider

Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context:

  1. 1Insights on peer engagement from farmers working with conservation advocates in the Maumee River basin2026
  2. 2Professionally integrated conservation education: Description of an intensive soil and water conservation course2026
  3. 3Evaluating conservation incentive programs: Piloting a novel approach to enabling farmer behavior change2026
  4. 4”We Do It for Other Reasons. It’s Conservation, It’s the Right Thing to Do”: Centering Farmer Perspectives in Agricultural Policy Reform for Climate Resilience2026
  5. 5A researcher-practitioner driven framework and research agenda for promoting conservation behaviours2024 · 2 citations