Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Conservation on the Land

This is a picture of the farm where my folks lived for some 25 years prior to their retirement and moving to town. They didn’t own the land but took care of it in a very commendable stewardship manner. The drought and depression of the 1930’s had such a profound effect on them and others of their generation, that they were reluctant to ever go into debt. The photo was taken by Richard Hufnagle and used in recognizing them and the owner as the Seward County Conservation District honor farm of 1969. They were presented the award at an annual meeting of the State Soil Conservation Districts which also included a commendation signed by Governor Tiemann. I had “laid out” the terrace lines in the 50’s while working with the Soil Conservation Service here in Seward County.  Dad got started farming on the contour and working with terraces on the old Vrana farm where we lived when I started working with SCS. It is somewhat ironic that Elaine’s parents were conservation farmers under very similar circumstances. Some of our first “dates” included her brother who was working for the Soil Conservation District building terraces and studying Agronomy at UN-L. It is little wonder that our youngest son has worked with SCS/NRCS for 35 years and is in New Orleans this week at the NACD (National Association of Conservation Districts) Annual Meeting where the Agency in rolling out a program called “Client Gateway” which Jon helped develop back in Washington, D.C.

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