Sustainability

Mike and Tammy Wilson started from the ground up when they purchased 75 acres in 1999, and they are 2024 winners of the Kentucky Leopold Conservation Award.

Establishing buffer strips, crop rotations, no-till practices, and cover crops have reduced soil erosion and improved water quality at their beef cattle and grain farm. Selective harvesting and thinning overgrowth promote the quality of timber in the farm’s 125 acres of forests. Planting trees and native grasses has created a habitat for wildlife and insect pollinators.

In the 60 years since the first commercial no-tillage planting in Christian County, the agricultural practice continues to improve soils and water quality on millions of acres across Kentucky, the United States and the world.

Farming land his grandmother once owned, Fred L. Sipes says he’s a caretaker of a precious resource. Fred began growing 50 acres of burley tobacco, fresh out of high school in 1994. Even then, conservation was important to him. He knew consistent improvement and diversification would be critical to his farm’s survival.

As Barry Alexander drives a tractor across a soybean field on Cundiff Farms, his eyes are on a computer screen that shows his precise location, the speed of the tractor, exactly how much seed is being planted per acre and more. He can watch the screen closely because the tractor uses autosteer to move across the field in a straight line.

When you hear the words “firewood operation,” you may envision large, desolate sections of land absent of hickory, oak, and maple trees. That’s not the case here. As Reed looks over a tract of land they farmed for firewood in recent years, he bends down to point out oak and maple saplings flourishing on the forest floor.

When farmers think of leaders in regenerative agriculture, they may not think of a farm tucked away in Carlisle County, Kentucky, or a family that has been tending the land since the Civil War. But after just a few minutes of visiting with Brad Reddick and his son, Joel, it’s easy to see that these men eat, sleep, and breathe soil health.

Mr. Warren Beeler discusses how Kentucky farmers are more sustainable than ever.

James R. “Buddy” Smith has been farming in the Bluegrass Region for more than 50 years. He is the 2020 Kentucky Leopold Conservation Award winner.

A land ethic was instilled in Mark Turner at a young age while helping his father on the family farm. When Mark took over Turner Farms, he saw the negative effects from the moldboard plow to the land. He decided to purchase a no-till drill in 1983. The farm now practices no-till and plants cover crops on every acre.

Nearly 1,330 acres of the property has a long history of logger choice harvest and occasional wildfire. This left mostly small-to-medium saw timber with a large percentage of low quality, less desirable species. The family has been working to improve timber quality through cull tree removal and mid-story removal for regeneration.

Achieving soil health through the use of no-till farming and cover crops is nothing new to Edward (Myrel) Trunnell, who began farming more than six decades ago. Conservation is synonymous with his idea of farming.

In the five decades since he took the reins of his family farm, he has improved the health of thousands of highly-sensitive acres along the Green River. Successful farming and conservation along one of North America’s most ecologically-important river corridors required an ability to adapt, experiment and innovate.

Jerry and Valarie live and farm on the first piece of land they bought together in 1967. By purchasing other farms, their Springhill Farms operation has grown to nearly 1600 acres of cropland, with 200 additional acres of unplanted land, and 300 acres of rented farmland.

Todd Clark is a first generation farmer in Lexington. He began helping a neighbor farmer as a young teenager and had his first tobacco crop at age 16. By the time Todd was 18, he was leasing a house and land and had branched out to cattle and hay operations.

The history of Old Homeplace Farm in southeastern Kentucky dates back to the mid 1800s. No written record exists of the family’s crops or livestock, but we imagine that it was like most other Kentucky farms of that period: highly diversified and remarkably self-sufficient.

Farming and caring for the land has been the vocation and passion of the Halcomb Family for many generations. From settling of the Home Farm in the 1830s to the present day, each generation has embraced this opportunity and responsibility.