Newsletter: Summer 2024

Thanks to the encouragement of our partners during our five-year strategic planning process in 2023, we at Richland Soil & Water Conservation District (Richland SWCD) saw a clear need to re-focus on agricultural outreach. In the past, our district has found it difficult to do this due to financial and staffing limitations. Now, thanks to community support, we are able to offer these services again. Most notably, support for these services was generously provided by a grant from the Richland County Foundation.

St. Mary’s Farm Field Day

We hit the ground running this summer. On May 28, as the school year drew to a close, Richland SWCD was invited to the McKown farm for St. Mary’s (Shelby) Farm Field Day. Technician Jordan Keller brought along the rainfall simulator to discuss how different land uses impact water quality.

Each of the five groups of students ages K-6 grade buried a pair of (clean) underwear for our Soil Your Undies experiment. Locations where students buried the underwear included: Woodland Edge, Turf Grass, Conventional Tilled Cropland, Pasture, and a Hay Field. The students had a blast with the Soil Your Undies experiment and a pair of underwear seemed to end up on a kid’s head in every group. 

Don’t forget to stop by our booth at the fair this year to check out our county wide “Soil Your Undies” challenge! What is this? Click or tap at the bottom of this page and scroll down the the article from the last newsletter!

Grazing Field Day for Plain Growers

On June 14^th Richland SWCD hosted a Field Day for Plain Growers emphasizing grazing management practices. State Grazing Specialist, Megan Burgess – United States Department of Agriculture – Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS), led a field day where participants enjoyed learning about pasture weeds and forage identification, grazing equipment, rotational grazing, and a pasture visit.

A HUGE thank you to the Randy and Eileen Eisenhauer for letting us use their pasture, last-minute, for demonstrations on how to use a grazing stick. Randy was more than happy to discuss the management decisions he’s made on his pasture and highlighted how Richland SWCD and USDA-NRCS have assisted with improving his operation.

If you feel like you missed out on your opportunity to learn about grazing, you’re in luck! Richland SWCD will be hosting a three-part grazing school series called Pastures for Profit Grazing School July 23rd & 25^th from 6-9 pm with a pasture walk at Eisenhauer farm scheduled for July 27^th from 9am-2pm. The cost is $30 for the series and includes a grazing stick and USB with course manual. Registration is requested by July 19.

The Family Fun on the Farm Festival has been a Richland County tradition for four years. The event offers a family friendly and accessible atmosphere where visitors can learn about farm life, where their food comes from, and conservation.

Visitors can learn to shoot arrows at the Ohio Department of Natural Resource’s (ODNR) archery trailer, go fishing in the pond below Louis Bromfield’s house, go on a wagon ride, get up close and personal with farm animals, and interact with local organizations (including yours truly, Richland Soil & Water Conservation District! – or Richland SWCD for short)

Of course, everyone’s hope for an event as big as this one is for perfect weather. Unfortunately, there was no such cooperation from Mother Nature. It drizzled on and off during the festival held from noon to 4 pm on Saturday, June 29. It even poured once.

However, despite the bummer weather, the Festival was still a huge success. Approximately three hundred people came out from the community to brave the rain. Smiles were still lighting up on kids faces as they planted their own green beans or got a fun farm animal stamp at the Richland SWCD booth. Visitors were very thankful we held the festival, co-sponsored with Malabar Farm State Park, and told us so.

To all our partners who stood out in the weather for a few hours on a Saturday, thank you! Special thanks needs to go out to Malabar Farm State Park, ODNR, their respective staff and the many volunteers who hosted and assisted. And to our soggy but happy visitors, hats off to you. You are the reason we do what we do.

H2Ohio | USDA-NRCS

H2Ohio Update

Spring and early summer have been an exciting time for H2Ohio in Richland County! Richland Soil & Water Conservation District (Richland SWCD) is happy to report that nine new producers have enrolled in the program this year, representing approximately 5,450 total acres! Enrollment will likely wrap up in the next couple of weeks, so if you are still interested or know someone who might be, talk to us as soon as possible.

In other news, technicians Jordan and Evan have been steadily finishing 2023’s practice verifications, completing field checks, and getting ready to dive into 2024 nutrient management meetings with current participants.

If you are interested in seeing the impact of H2Ohio across the state, tap or click the “H2Ohio Progress Maps” button below to see some fascinating maps developed by the State (this will take you to the main H2Ohio site, scroll down to the “H2Ohio Dashboards on the DataOhio Portal”.

H2Ohio Practice Highlight: Conservation Crop Rotation – Small Grains

Just in the last few weeks, farmers that grow wheat or other winter annuals (like rye or spelts) for grain have been harvesting it. For H2Ohio, farmers are allowed to enroll in a practice called “Conservation Crop Rotations – Small Grains”.

Diversifying crop rotations includes many benefits: increasing soil and crop health, decreasing erosion and pest/disease pressures, covering the soil for longer periods of the year, increasing cash crop yields, and many more. For 2023, H2Ohio producers in Richland County completed about 770 acres of this practice. Here are a few resources for further reading:   

“More Diverse Crop Rotations Improve Yield, Yield Stability, and Soil Health” – University of Nebraska-Lincoln

“Building Soils for Better Crops – Diversifying Cropping Systems” – Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education

“Diversifying crop rotations improves environmental outcomes while keeping farms profitable” – University of Minnesota Twin Cities

USDA-NRCS Update

The United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) helps people help the land. They offer and administer a wide range of voluntary, cost-shared conservation practices for farmers to implement on their land and homestead. Richland SWCD assists USDA-NRCS with technical assistance and some administration.

So far this year, Richland SWCD technicians helped our USDA-NRCS partner with three conservation plans that have the objective of improving soil quality. The three plans encompass about 80 acres of Early Successional Habitat Development, Tree/Shrub Establishment, and Upland Wildlife Habitat Management.

Richland SWCD technicians are available to assist producers interested in programs and practices available in Richland county. Our technicians also assist those who are not or do not want to be enrolled in USDA-NRCS programs but are still interested in related best management practices.

Ohio’s Historic Family Farm Program

Has your farm been in your family for more than a century? Would you like to preserve and honor that history? If so, Ohio’s Historic Family Farm Program might be a good choice. There are three designations for historic farms in Ohio: Century Farms (in the family for 100-146 years), Sesquicentennial Farms (in the family for 150-199 years), and Bicentennial Farms (200+ years in the family).

For more information you can call the Ohio Dept. of Agriculture at 614-752-4505 or email them (see below).

Farmland Preservation Program

Do you want to preserve your farmland as an agricultural asset in your community, in perpetuity? If so, you may want to look into the Farmland Preservation Program offered by the Ohio Department of Agriculture and sponsored by your local Soil and Water Conservation District.

This program has two options for preservation:

1. Clean Ohio Local Agricultural Easement Purchase Program (LEAPP) where you compete in a ranking process to be enrolled into the program.
2. Agricultural Easement Donation Program (AEDP), which includes some tax benefits.

There are also additional optional United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) programs that are similar in nature, and you can enroll at the same time as the above. If you would like further information, please contact us or the Farm Service Agency for additional information.