UW-Stout LAKES REU student seeking farmers to fill out survey
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMOINE — Calling all farmers …
Nidia Lazos is asking for your help in filling out a survey she has developed as part of the LAKES REU program at UW-Stout this summer.
Lazos is a student at the University of Kansas who is majoring in Environmental Studies and minoring in Peace and Conflict studies.
The LAKES REU program (Linking Applied Knowledge in Environment Sustainability Research Experience for Undergraduates) is geared toward better understanding the root causes of phosphorus pollution and solutions to that pollution and offers undergraduate students an opportunity to participate in conducting research.
The program is open to students from universities across the country and has 13 participants this year.
Phosphorus is the pollutant that fuels algae blooms in Tainter Lake and Lake Menomin every summer.
The survey asks a variety of questions about farming practices, such as conservation tillage, cover crops, buffer zones, grass waterways, fencing off livestock from waterways, managed grazing and nutrient management plans.
Lazos said she wanted to participate in the LAKES REU program “because it ties social influence and environmental issues. In the future, I plan on connecting my environmental knowledge and experience with human health issues.”
No matter whether people are aware of environmental problems, the environment has an impact on everyone.
“This experience allows me to broaden my knowledge about human behavior and show how people can promote or impede environmental change and sustainability. This program has allowed me to gain certain experiences in different fields and understand how interdisciplinary research is valuable and crucial to implementing systemic change,” Lazos said.
Lazos’s area of research is in social psychology.
“Sometimes called ‘the psychology of everyday life,’ this discipline is focused on understanding how people’s thoughts, feelings and behaviors are related to the people around them and vice-versa,” she said.
“Social psychologists spend a lot of time studying thoughts and attitudes. This specific survey is designed to gather data on what kinds of practices are commonly used in the area, which is good information to have reported directly from the people doing the farming, with a focus on farming practices that may have an impact on water quality in the watershed,” Lazos said.
“I will be looking at both what farmers report doing themselves and what they perceive as common practices amongst other farmers,” she said.
“As the survey was being developed, the psychology team spent a lot of time discussing different ways in which people’s thoughts and attitudes affect their behaviors, but we kept being unsure of what farmers specifically think about the specific farming practices I am looking at,” Lazos said.
Although there is no specific number of surveys Lazos needs for her research, “the more, the better.”
Even a few dozen responses could provide useful information, and more surveys will help “get a broader representation of local farmers of all kinds,” she said.
“Rather than guessing or making assumptions, I hope to collect good information about what farmers in the area are doing and learn more about the implementation of different management practices,” Lazos said.
Students in the LAKES REU program will be presenting their research August 11 at 5 p.m. at The Raw Deal in Menomonie.
If people cannot attend the presentation, a summary of the project will be added to the LAKES REU website at https://www.uwstout.edu/outreach-engagement/research/nsf-reu-site-lakes-undergraduate-research-experience.
“I want to emphasize that I value the opinions of farmers, and I want to hear from everyone. All the survey responses will be anonymous, and it should only take about 10 or 15 minutes to complete,” Lazos said.
If you would like to participate in the survey, you can find it at https://uwstout.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_daLQmPPhTfXic62.
The deadline for completing the survey is August 3 so that Lazos has time to include the results in her presentation August 11.
