Text and Photos
By Deb Patterson
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Lucas Reed, Mark Montel and Aleah Southworth were recipients of special awards at the 66th annual Kosciusko County Soil and Water Conservation District meeting Tuesday, Feb. 14.

Additionally, Darci Zolman received special acknowledgement for her years of service to the district and top local FFA soil judging students were recognized.

Reed received the Forestry Conservation Award for exceptional forestry application. He completed invasive species control and timber stand improvement on 30 acres and is working on completing an additional 80 acres. He has also incorporated native grass and pollinators on his property and has 20 acres of trees and shrubs.

Eric Pfeiffer, vice president of news at Hoosier Ag Today, was keynote speaker for the 66th annual Kosciusko Soil and Water Conservation District meeting.

Montel, who was recognized as a River Friendly Farmer at the 2022 Indiana State Fair, was honored for his conservative practices on his farm, including being 100% no-till, using diverse cover crops and more on his 475 acres of farmland.

Southworth received the new Urban Soil Health Award for her outstanding volunteer efforts. The Urban Soil Health is a new program of the SWCD.

Zolman, who retired at the end of 2022 after 35 years with SWCD, received a special recognition for all her coordination of events and programs over the years.

Four local members of FFA Soils Judging Team members were honored as being the top soil judgers in the county. Luke Tucker, Lindsay Petersen and Issiac Ramsey from Tippecanoe Valley High School; and Jared Beer from Wawasee High School were recognized.

Keynote Speaker

Eric Pfeiffer, vice president of news at Hoosier Ag Today, was the keynote speaker. He can be heard on nearly 100 radio stations in Indiana and Michigan bringing the latest farm news, information and markets. He also does the Hoosier Ag Today daily podcast, the Purdue Crop Chat podcast and soybean specialist and soil health podcast.

Pfeiffer focused on topics of climate-smart agriculture, carbon-smart farming, sustainable farming and how to get the word out to people about soil health. He spoke about the top reasons for not using soil health practices, problems with soil health practices, farm bill progress, conservation in the farm bill, climate in the farm bill and other hot ag topics.

Among the reasons he cited for not using soil health practices were “we’ve always done it this way,” and “it costs to much.” He noted previously it was hard to get financial assistance; however, recently $19.5 billion over 5 1/2 years has become available.

Aleah Southworth received the Outstanding Volunteers For Urban Soil Health Award for her extensive volunteerism and hours.

The big problems he noted focused on the question whether there was a consistent message being provided. “Who is it you’re supposed to call? Are we telling people the same thing? My two cents, we need a consistent message,” he said.

Moving on to the farm bill, Pfeiffer projected it will not get done by the end of September, noting partisanship will get in the way of getting it completed. He spoke with Sen. Mike Braun, who said he didn’t expect partisan politics to get in the way. Pfeiffer, however, believes the House will lead the charge and send it to the Senate where things might get contentious.

He pointed out the important areas of the farm bill, adding no one wants a bigger slice, they want a bigger pie. The bill could reach the $1.3 trillion mark.

Hot ag topics to watch included Mexico’s ban on GMO corn, biofuels, Indiana’s budget including additional money for agriculture, South American Weather, waters of the U.S., interest rates and Russia/Ukraine.

The annual meeting included the election of supervisors. David Ransbottom, who has served since 2008; and Jewel Wise, who has served since 2017, were both selected to another three-year term. Ransbottom was appointed and Wise was elected.

The event was held at The Roost at Creighton’s Crazy Egg, Warsaw. Approximately 120 attended.