Interest Holder Engagement

Meridian is conducting 150+ interviews with a range of interest holders to learn more about challenges and opportunities within the TA for conservation system. These interviews mainly target individuals and groups involved in providing or receiving TA, as well as some individuals and groups involved in building TA professional capacity. The purpose of the interviews is to gain expert insight into the problems, goals, and opportunities that exist among community members within the TA for conservation system.

Meridian is using purposive sampling (i.e., interviewing people we know or have identified through preliminary research as having “rich experiences” in TA) and snowball sampling (i.e., starting within our networks and reaching additional people through them) to identify the interviewees. Through this sampling, Meridian seeks an equitable demographic representation, with relatively even representation across production systems and size of operations. We are intentionally engaging new and beginning producers, diversified producers, and organic/regenerative producers.

Meridian is convening diverse TA providers and producers through in-person producer visits and roundtables. The goal of these convenings is to foster discussion between TA system participants and gather in-depth information on systems, topics, and groups working on TA for conservation. We also want to understand participants’ unique, context-specific interactions with TA. Workshops will be tailored for two types of participants: (1) agriculture producers of all types and sizes (i.e., farmers, ranchers, and forestland owners), and (2) the pipeline of future technical assistance for conservation providers.