American Farmland Trust (AFT) researches tools and methods to help farmers and conservation professionals estimate and report on outcomes associated with farm conservation practice adoption. In 2020, AFT released an Outcomes Estimation Tools Guide to help farm conservation project managers identify user-friendly tools and methods to quantify the water quality, climate, social, and economic outcomes of farm practices.     

American Farmland Trust’s Outcomes Estimation Tools Training Webinar Series (2023-2024) provides farm conservation project managers with information about the different tools that are available.  Each webinar features a developer of an outcomes estimation tool who provides extensive training and guidance in the usage and application of their tool. See the links below to watch previous webinars.

The webinars occur on the first Wednesday of each month starting May 2023 and will run through 2024.  Learn more about the webinar series and view the schedule archive. 

Webinars:  

AFT Outcomes Estimation Tools Webinar Series Launch: Michelle Perez, Aysha Tapp Ross, Jean Brokish, Julie Platz, Kinzie Reiss (American Farmland Trust) 

Model My Watershed Tool Training: David Arscott (Stroud), Anthony Aufdenkampe (Limnotech), and Matt Ehrhart (Stroud) 

Nutrient Tracking Tool Training: Ali Saleh (Texas Institute for Applied Environmental Research)

NRCS Cover Crop Economics Tool Training: Bryon Kirwan (USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service)

FieldPrint Platform Training: Dr. Eric Coronel (Field to Market)

EPA Pollution Load Estimation Tool Training: Adrienne Donaghue (Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water)

Prioritize Target Measure Application Training (PTMApp): Dr. Drew Kessler (Houston Engineering Inc)

Retrospective-Soil Health Economics Tool Training: Ellen Yeatman (American Farmland Trust)

Social Indicator Planning & Evaluation System (SIPES) and the Social Indicators Data Management System (SIDMA) Training: Glenn O’Neil (Institute of Water Research at Michigan State University) and Ken Genskow (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Fertilizer and Soil (FAST-GHG) Tool Training – Quantify Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Crop Production: Peter Woodbury (Cornell School of Integrative Plant Science Soil and Crop Sciences Section)

Cool Farm Tool: Michaela Aschbacher (Cool Farm Alliance)

Critical Source Area Identification and Management Training: Tate Wentz (Water Quality Division Manager with the Arkansas Dept. of Agriculture), Shanon Phillips (Director for the Water Quality Division of the Oklahoma Conservation Commission), and Leif Kindberg (Director of the Illinois River Watershed Partnership)

CarbOn Management & Emissions Tool (COMET) Kit Training: Haley Giuliano (former Outreach and Education Specialist with Colorado State University)

Chesapeake Assessment Scenario Tool (CAST) Training: Olivia Devereaux (President of Devereux Consulting, Inc.)

Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework Training: Anne Nardi (Communications Manager of the Conservation Professional Training Program  and North Central Region Water Network, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Division of Extension), Dr. Haleigh Summers (Agricultural Geospatial Data Scientist with the Sand County Foundation), and Gregg Hadish (State GIS Specialist with USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service for Iowa)