The Fulton County Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD) began 2014 with the 74th Annual Meeting attended by approximately 50 people. Supervisors and staff attended various workshops to further their education. They created a cover crop display booth for New Holland-Rochester’s annual Customer Appreciation Day, submitted Annual Financial Reports on Gateway as required by the Indiana State Board of Accounts, and co-hosted with Purdue Extension Service a “Cover Crop Talk” at Rochester Meats & Deli.
Art Gudas was nominated for the 2014 River Friendly Farmer award for the work he does to protect Indiana’s natural resources. To congratulate Art at the ceremony were Indiana State Department of Agriculture Director Ted McKinney, President of Indiana Farm Bureau Don Villwock, State Conservationist Jane Hardisty, and IASWCD President Jeff Meinders, among other leaders from the Indiana Conservation Partnership.
In the spring the SWCD Celebrated Soil & Water Stewardship Week with conservation themed bookmarks for the five Fulton County Libraries.
A new project for 2014 was participating in the On Farm Network. Nine area farmers enrolled a total of twenty-one fields for Guided Stalk Sampling. Fields were registered with the SWCD and field maps were sent to Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA). Arial photography was flown during July and August, then each field was assigned four sample points. Just before harvest the SWCD, with assistance from Pulaski County SWCD, the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) and Indiana State Dept. of Ag. (ISDA), gathered forty corn stalk samples from each field and sent them to the lab for nitrate testing. The project culminated in February when participants met for results of their individual fields.
In order to remain in compliance with Indiana Storm Water Prevention Plan reviews, the SWCD met with IDEM’s storm water specialist to go over Rule 5 plans.
A Healthy Soils Field Day was held in August with Michigan agronomist Rich Recker. Farmers from Fulton, Marshall and Kosciusko counties attended, as well as agency personnel from the SWCD’s, NRCS, ISDA and the Farm Service Agency (FSA).
The annual Envirothon was attended by approximately sixty high school students.
The annual booth at the Fulton County 4-H Fair focused on cover crops and soil health.
The annual Arrow Head Country RC&D River Rafting Expedition and Academic Competition was attended by nearly 500 students.
The SWCD’s Cover Crop Cost Share Program paid out over $8,200 to eighteen county participants.The SWCD paid out over $80,000 to Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) participants for completed conservation projects.
Visit our website at http://fultonswcd.org/ to learn more!