Text and Photos
By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

ROCHESTER — George and Nancy Krom and Kern Woodlands LLC received awards at the 84th annual Fulton County Soil and Water Conservation District Meeting.

The event was on Monday, Feb. 12, at the Geneva Center outside Rochester.

The Kroms, who farm east of Rochester, got the Joseph A. Kroft Conservation Award. The late Kroft helped start the Fulton County SWCD Board, explained presenter Mike Norman.

Norman explained the award is given out based on the recipients’ “conservation practices in Fulton County.”

After introducing the Kroms, Norman said they had farmed in Fulton County “for their entire adult life.”

“They have cooperated with the soil and water conservation district on many practices to protect our soil and water resources,” said Norman. “Their efforts have included such things as participation in our cover crop program as well as being one of the county’s early adopters of no-till crop production.”

“The first no-till seminar I ever went to was at (the Krom) farm. It was in 1989,” said Norman.

He added that when SWCD representatives were searching in the last year for an E.coli cause, they sampled from the Krom farm and theirs was the “cleanest sample … attested to in the entire project.”

“Most of the acreage farmed by the Kroms is in the Tippecanoe River watershed. Their efforts in soil and water conservation have had measurable positive results and improvement of water quality both in Lake Manitou and the Tippecanoe River watersheds,” said Norman.

George said thank you and noted he and Nancy’s kids were present for the award.

Norman next gave the River Friendly Farmer of Indiana Award to Kern Woodlands LLC, run by siblings Dr. Patricia Holmgren, Bill Kern and Shirley Needham.

Norman said the award “recognizes farmers for their implementation of conservation practices like no-till and cover crops, which ultimately protect waterways and improve water quality in Indiana.”

He said land belonging to Kern Woodlands LLC once was part of the siblings’ father Bob Kern’s Christmas tree farm. Some of the land is now rented out to a farmer for corn and soybeans with other parts being a nature reserve.

Norman said the Kern siblings “stay current on mowing fire lanes” on their land.

“Between the dripline of the woods and the crops, we require the tenant farmer to leave approximately 40-60 yards of grasses and small shrubs for turkey and quail nesting habitat,” read Norman from a statement from the siblings. “The ponds provide nesting spots for geese, ducks and herons and a safe resting place for migratory species. They maintain bluebird boxes, which provide homes for other small songbirds, such as tree swallows.”

“The whitetail deer are prolific, so they allow contracted hunting in defined areas,” said Norman of the siblings. “The use of cover crops and no-till practices is helping to amend and to counteract the high-acid content from the pine tree growing. It’s improving and will continue to improve over time. Due to the conservation easements, there are large strips of trees, native shrubs and grasses. This helps prevent erosion and improve water filtration. They are hopeful all the riverbanks and frontage wetlands will continue to be protected long after they are gone.”

Needham accepted the award on behalf of her siblings.

She said thank you, adding she hoped more women would get involved in land conservation.

Others honored at the banquet included the SWCD’s Glen Jones and Valerie Gordon. Rochester Community Schools’ FFA soils team members also were recognized, with Keegen Reinhold, Adam Reinhold, James Gardner, Emily Vigar and Sydney Bauman in attendance. Jones, who spoke on the members, noted Bauman and Adam also finished sixth at state with their novice parliamentary procedure team on Saturday, Feb. 10.

Fulton County 4-H members Emily Schouten and Laydon Malott also were recognized for completing soil and water science projects.

Regarding SWCD supervisors, Matt Harsh, who opted to step down as one, was honored. Needham is to replace him.

Kyle Riffle was also reelected as a supervisor. He and Needham took the oath of office at the meeting.