2015 Conservation Farm Award

Don and Neal Huber

The Winner of the 2015 Conservation Farm Award was announced at the Essex Soil & Crop Improvement Association (ESCIA) Annual Meeting on Thursday, December 3, 2015. The award is presented each year to the farming operation which best display’s conservation minded farming practices from those nominated. The farms are graded on tillage practices, crop rotation, chemical use and storage, knowledge of fertility programs, Best Management Practices and overall farm maintenance. The winner is determined by a committee of Directors from the Essex Soil & Crop Improvement Association. The winners of the Conservation Farm Award were Don and Neal Huber of Harrow.

Features of Don & Neal Huber’s farm include: extensive use of cover crops including a variety of seed mixes; experimenting with cover crop establishment using aerial seeding methods; no-till cropping; precision soil sampling; variable rate fertilizer application; ditch and creek banks protected by vegetative buffer zones; treed windbreaks to protect top soil from wind erosion; rock chutes to reduce soil erosion and a pond for wildlife. Their farm is located immediately adjacent to a Provincially Significant Wetland and Don & Neal participated in preserving this important natural feature for future generations. Don & Neal have participated in the Canada-Ontario Environmental Farm Plan program and the Essex Region Conservation Authority’s Clean Water ~ Green Spaces program to implement many of the Best Management Practices on their farms.

Congratulations to Don & Neal Huber and keep up the fine work!

Strip Tillage

Conservation Tillage

Drain Buffers

The Essex Conservation Farm Award is sponsored annually by the Essex Soil and Crop Improvement Association, and the Essex Region Conservation Authority.

Media Contacts:
Michael Dick
Secretary
Essex Soil and Crop Improvement Association
(519) 776-5209 ext. 369
mdick@erca.org

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