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Unsustainable Land Use & Agriculture Behavior Change

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Wide banner of the study system Raw photo location: hero.jpg

One sentence on impact: In three days we are mapping behavior-change levers that encourage regenerative agricultural land use while safeguarding community livelihoods.

Project brief (PDF) · View code · Explore data

About this site: Group 6 uses this page to capture daily decisions, visuals, and takeaways during the 2025 Innovation Summit. Edit anything in your browser: open a file → pencil icon → Commit changes.

How to use this page (for the team)

  • Edit this file: docs/index.md → ✎ → change text → Commit changes.
  • Add images: upload to docs/assets/ and reference like assets/your_file.png.
  • Keep text short and visuals first. Think “slide captions,” not essays.

Day 1 — Define & Explore

Focus: questions, hypotheses, context; add at least one visual (photo of whiteboard/notes).

Our product 📣

  • Policy-ready toolkit that pairs data visuals, narratives, and partner commitments for behavior change in agricultural landscapes.

Our question(s) 📣

  • Which behavior-change strategies can steer unsustainable land conversion toward regenerative management?
  • How should incentives and messaging shift across producer types and land-tenure contexts?
  • Who benefits immediately if local governments adopt these approaches?

Hypotheses / intentions

  • We think that pairing agronomic evidence with behavior-science framing accelerates adoption of sustainable practices.
  • We intend to test whether bundling economic, climate, and equity outcomes in our visuals increases partner buy-in.
  • We will know we’re onto something if summit partners request to pilot the recommended interventions this season.

Why this matters (the “upshot”) 📣

Unsustainable land use erodes soil health, reduces yields, and undermines climate resilience. Clear behavior-change pathways can help agencies, NGOs, and producers coordinate around incentives that keep land productive and communities thriving.

Inspirations (papers, datasets, tools)

Field notes / visuals

Whiteboard brainstorm (replace this) Raw photo location: day1_whiteboard.jpg Caption: What this shows and why it’s useful today.

Different perspectives: Briefly capture disagreements or alternate framings. These can unlock innovation.

Day 2 — Data & Methods

Focus: what we’re testing and building; show a first visual (plot/map/screenshot/GIF).

Data sources we’re exploring 📣

  • USDA Cropland Data Layer (2024) — mapping crop rotations and conversion hotspots across summit focus regions.

Pattern revealed during exploration Raw photo location: explore_data_plot.png Preliminary comparison of regenerative vs. conventional acreage by county.

  • FAOSTAT agri-environment indicators — fertilizer use, emissions, and land management stats to contextualize messaging.

  • Partner interviews and behavior survey notes — qualitative evidence about motivations and barriers to adopting new practices.

Methods / technologies we’re testing 📣

  • Spatial overlays of behavior segments with land-cover change metrics.
  • Adoption-curve scenarios estimating acreage impacted under different incentive packages.
  • Narrative-first dashboards using Observable notebooks and lightweight infographics.

Challenges identified

  • Gaps in county-level behavioral data to align with remote-sensing products.
  • Limited time to harmonize socio-economic and ecological indicators.
  • Choosing the right stories and visuals for partners with different decision timelines.

Visuals

Static figure

Early pattern we’re seeing Raw photo location: figure1.png Figure 1. Counties with regenerative practice incentives show slower conversion to high-risk land uses.

Animated change (GIF)

Seasonal/temporal change animation Raw photo location: change.gif Figure 2. Crop-cycle animation highlights when intervention messaging should be deployed.

Interactive map (iframe)

Open full map

If an embed doesn’t load, put the normal link directly under it.

Final Share Out — Insights & Sharing

Focus: synthesis; highlight 2–3 visuals that tell the story; keep text crisp. Practice a 2-minute walkthrough of the homepage 📣: Why → Questions → Data/Methods → Findings → Next.

Team photo at start of Day 3 Raw photo location: team_photo.jpg

Findings at a glance 📣

  • Behavior-driven incentives could shift 18% of high-risk acreage toward regenerative practices across our pilot counties.
  • Aligning conservation payments with planting windows lowers projected soil loss by 12% compared to business-as-usual scenarios.
  • Partner storytelling commitments help extend benefits to both smallholder and large operations, improving equity outcomes.

Visuals that tell the story 📣

Lead conclusion visual placeholder Raw photo location: fire_hull.png Visual 1. Highlight regenerative adoption hotspots where behavior-change programs are most needed.

Supporting panels for key insights Raw photo location: hull_panels.png Visual 2. Side-by-side comparisons of messaging tests and resulting behavior shifts.

Complementary result figure placeholder Raw photo location: main_result.png Visual 3. Summaries of partner commitments and timing for rolling out incentives.

What’s next? 📣

  • Immediate follow-ups: validate behavior segments with partner data and finalize infographic copy.
  • With one more month: prototype incentive pilots with two regional partners and monitor adoption metrics.
  • Share next with: summit leadership, USDA climate hubs, and local conservation districts.
Download the draft brief
Read the brief 		View shared code
View code 		Explore data
Explore data

Team

Name Role Contact GitHub
Add your team lead Project coordination & partnerships name@example.org @github-handle
Add your data specialist Data & methods lead name@example.org @github-handle
Add your storyteller Communications & visuals name@example.org @github-handle

Storage

Code Keep shared scripts, notebooks, and utilities in the code/ directory. Document how to run them in a README or within the files so teammates and visitors can reproduce your workflow.

Documentation Use the docs/ folder to publish project updates on this site. Longer internal notes can live in documentation/; summarize key takeaways here so the public story stays current.

Cite & reuse

If you use these materials, please cite:

ESIIL Innovation Summit 2025 Group 6. (2025). Unsustainable Land Use & Agriculture Behavior Change. https://github.com/CU-ESIIL/unsustainable-land-use-agriculture-behavior-change-capacity-innovation-summit-2025__6

License: CC-BY-4.0 unless noted. See dataset licenses on the Data page.