The National Farmers Union and the Natural Resources Conservation Service have developed a free tool to help farmers and ranchers improve soil conservation. The Resource Stewardship Evaluation Tool uses an evaluation to point landowners toward goals. Aaron Lehman, a fifth-generation family farmer in Polk County, was one of the first farmers in Iowa to test the tool, and was impressed with the process. “It was very easy to take a snapshot of our farm from a conservation standpoint,” said Lehman. “From there we could evaluate the potential benefits of additional conservation practices on that individual field. It takes a lot of guesswork out of conservation planning.”