Local operations honored by Conservation District
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Those honored were Jerry and Beth Blankenship, Buck Blanton, and Leslie and Lynn Moore.
The Blankenships have five greenhouses with approximately 22,000 plants on 2 acres. They have 35 acres of nursery plants that will be balled and burlapped.
Clovers and green crops are used to put back nitrogen and nutrients into the soil and help with reducing erosion. Strip cropping is used as a conservation practice, and micro head irrigation is used to conserve water.
Blanton has a row crop operation on 650 acres, of which approximately 300 acres are in corn. There is also significant acreage of beans and wheat.
The tillage procedure used most is no-till. Some of the fields are double cropped. A grassed waterway of 1.8 acres was constructed to convey runoff and to protect and improve water quality.
Blanton follows a conservation plan on the acreage that he farms and keeps soil loss levels at a tolerance of below the 5 tons per acre, per year level.
Brothers Leslie and Lynn More are farming on the land their parents had. In addition, Lynn has purchased some adjoining property. Together they have a beef cow operation of approximately 50 head.
They own about 260 acres and are leasing another 150 acres. They have put in heavy-use areas, pipelines and watering facilities. They have also put in 3,861 feet of cross fencing.
Other conservation practices are prescribed grazing, pest and nutrient management.
Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District representatives wish to thank these farmers for protecting the land and improving the natural resources on their land.