On February 1, 2012 Daviess County SWCD hosted the third "Southern Indiana Grazing Conference" (SIGC) held at the Simon J Graber Community Building south of Odon. The conference was very well attended with over 300 in attendance and we were pleased to have 21 vendors register exhibiting the latest in grazing technology. Many thanks to our power house speakers; Ray Archuleta, Greg Judy, Gary Zimmer and Dave Robison for making this year a very successful conference.
Through the Daviess SWCD 10 local companies were aided in complying with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management's Rule 5 which requires a Storm Water Pollution Prevention plan for construction activities that disturb one or more acres of land.
29 producers were assisted by the Daviess County SWCD in order to stay in compliance with IDEM's Confined Feeding Operation permits.
The District supported 13 producers with cost-share and aided with 525 acres of cover crops in addition working with 2 more producers as a part of the ongoing Clean Water grant that cost-shared 100 acres of cover crops to be studied by the On Farm Network in relation to the effects of cover crops on nitrogen on reclaimed mine ground.
The District worked with the Conservation Cropping Systems Initiative mentor program which brought a renowned soil health expert to two Daviess County farms and to a successful small producer's meeting. This state wide grant enables mentors or consultants from the private sector, like certified crop advisors, agricultural industry representatives, and conservation producers, to deliver individualized, on-site assistance to producers adopting conservation cropping systems.
The Daviess County SWCD held a Fourth Grade Farm Fair on August 31st. There were 390 students guided by 38 teachers and parents to rotate through 17 different learning stations. In 2012 the district educator gave 146 presentation, reaching 3,205 students, grades K-12.
Through a Memorandum of Understanding and contract with the City of Washington the Daviess County SWCD provides up to 60 hours of educational assistance for the MS4 Public Education and Outreach measure as required by 327 IAC 15.