Carleton students Jeremy Alsaker and Cooper Kohlman studied how farmers relate to “spare or share” theory in a rural midwestern agricultural context. They interviewed farmers to ask them about their management practices that fall under spare or share, as well as the reasons for adopting the practices. While spare or share focuses solely on the objectives of the land’s productive capacity and biodiversity, they found that farmers’ objectives were more complex. Conservation theories such as spare or share should better reflect landscapes where small-scale, individual management decisions are informed by factors such as economic considerations, long-term fertility, and the notion of family legacy. This requires adapting the core assumptions of the theory to reflect the priorities of the farmers and other land users who interact with it.