The River Friendly Farmers awards ceremony dates back to 2000 and at the Indiana State Fair this week 46 more farmers were awarded for their efforts. Putnam County farmer Ron Sutherlin is a new recipient and the things he does on his farm are indicative of the others who are honored each year.
“From our no-till practices and cover crop and things that we’re doing to be environmentally friendly and river friendly, and being conservative with the nature that we’re working with and have been blessed to have,” he said. “Once the soil has been polluted or it’s actually eroded away and gone, it’s gone. It takes forever to replace that. It’s just a natural resource that we have to keep and protect because once it’s gone it’s gone.”
Sutherlin says they have no-till farmed since about 1991 and cover crops entered his mix 10 to 12 years ago, but today “We’re doing more with the cover crop, covering more acres, trying some different mixes of cover crop and just different ideas on how to plant into those cover crops. So it’s evolving.”
The River Friendly Farmer Award is sponsored by the Indiana Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts and the 92 county Soil and Water Conservation Districts along with Indiana Farm Bureau.
What a great way to honor these folks who can demonstrate to their neighbors that these practices really pay off,” said IFB president Don Villwock. “We have some fragile land where I live in southwestern Indiana that’s had a lot of erosion and I can testify personally that those thinner soils don’t produce. They’re very susceptible if we don’t get a rain as often the deeper soils in northern Indiana where it’s a little flatter, so conservation is very critical and keeping soil in place is essential for long term sustainability of agriculture.”
Also sponsoring the awards is the Indiana State Department of Agriculture Division of Soil Conservation, Purdue Cooperative Extension Service, and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.
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