A National Conservation Buffer Workshop was held in June 2001 to create an agenda for action that would further the use of conservation buffer technology and help the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) achieve its goal of assisting farmers and ranchers to install 2 million miles (7.2 million acres) of buffers by the end of calendar year 2002. The workshop involved 51 invited participants, including researchers, program administrators, communication experts, and agricultural and conservation organization representatives.

Three work groups were organized within the workshop: (1) Research Work Group, (2) Policy Work Group, and (3) Communication Work Group. From the multitude of ideas offered during the workshop, each of the three work groups used extensive discussion and a voting process to reach a degree of consensus on an action agenda. The resulting report, Realizing the Promise of Buffer Technology, is a compilation of the recommendations of each work group toward this agenda.

To read a PDF of the report, click here.