Technical Assistance Accelerator for Conservation
The Technical Assistance Accelerator for Conservation took a fresh look at the TA “system” to identify successful TA models and strategies to meet future demand – both in terms of numbers of producers reached and the subject matter and skills covered.
Focus Areas
Food Systems
Life on Land
Farmers, ranchers, and forestland owners (producers) of all types and sizes rely on technical assistance (TA) to adopt and expand conservation practices, improve the resilience of their operations, and ensure long-term profitability.
TA includes the full range of activities related to supporting producers in planning and implementing conservation practices, such as subject-matter expertise, data collection and management, technology assessment and adoption, and collaboration. Producers access TA at local, state, and national levels and from a variety of providers, including federal agencies such as the US Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), non-profit organizations, private businesses, community organizations, and peer networks.
From 2023 to 2025, this project took a comprehensive look at the TA for conservation “system,” which includes a broad network of people who carry out conservation on working lands by engaging and partnering with producers. The TA system faces challenges including an undersupply of qualified TA providers, shortfalls in common TA delivery methods, and lagging adoption of new tools.
This work, funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) with investment by NRCS, was led by Meridian with advice and counsel from a national-level Advisory Committee. Meridian conducted qualitative assessments to understand the current landscape of TA providers and identify successful models and strategies that can address some of the system’s current challenges. The core pillars of this project included:
- Baseline data collection
- Production systems-based and regional workshops
- National-level synthesis
Unfortunately, the project was disrupted by the federal government funding freeze in early 2025, and work was not resumed.
In fall 2024, Meridian released a landscape report on the U.S. technical assistance for conservation system. This report was commissioned to inform research and convenings being conducted as part of the Technical Assistance Accelerator for Conservation, with funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. It provides a comprehensive view of the US technical assistance system for conservation. It synthesizes existing research and identifies key trends and challenges. We believe it will be a valuable tool for practitioners, educators, policymakers, and everyone invested in stewarding working lands conservation.
