Dryland growers asked to take drought survey

From the Washington State Department of Agriculture We would like to hear from you! On behalf of the Washington Soil Health Initiative (WaSHI), the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) invites dryland producers to take part in a survey. We are interested in understanding how and why you manage your soils the way that you do, how you work to sustain soils, and how your management practices relate to operational resilience during drought.  We hope this survey will help us understand how to better support you, including during future drought conditions. Through this survey, we intend to provide WSDA, industry stakeholders, and policymakers with a better understanding of: 

• The management practices used by producers and their connections to soil health. 
• The benefits and/or barriers to adopting particular management practices in diverse growing regions. 
• The impacts of the 2021 drought. 

We recognize Washington’s dryland growing regions are diverse and production practices vary greatly. Many of the production practices in this survey will not apply to your operation – that is okay.  The greater the response, the more accurate our understanding. Responses to this survey help us communicate the priorities and nuances of dryland production to our industry stakeholders and policymakers, and better support Washington producers. Your input is valued and appreciated. Click here to take the survey. Information will be used to understand broad impacts and characterize trends in soil health and production practices across regions. Data collected via this survey will be aggregated and reported in a way which mitigates personal identification of growers. All data are subject to public disclosure accordance with RCW 42.56 (Public Records Act).