Swipe Right to Fall in Love with Conservation Options

If you’re looking for a deep, meaningful relationship with conservation and soil health, look no further: Ashland Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) may just be your perfect match.

Ashland SWCD is teaming up with Ashland County Farm Bureau to host their February Conservation Chat: Swipe Right for Conservation in conjunction with Farm Bureau’s annual breakfast. Producers will not only get a great breakfast to start off their day, but they will also get a chance to get to know more about Ashland SWCD and the many conservation projects and programs the district offers.

“We’re just really excited to partner with Farm Bureau on this event, and introduce our farmers to new programs and staff that we have here at Ashland SWCD,” said Jane Houin, Ashland SWCD director. “We have several new faces working on new programs in our office, and this will be a great opportunity to connect farmers with those people and those conservation opportunities.”

One area they will focus on is the district’s new conservation stewardship certification. Farmers can be certified through the district as a platinum, gold of silver level conservation farm based on their participation in SWCD and USDA conservation programs.

One of the district’s most popular programs is their cover crop program. In addition to their traditional cost share program available through the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District, Ashland also offers a soil-health cover crop pilot program, incentives for beginner cover crop users and a cover crop interseeder.

“With skyrocketing input prices, this year is a great year for producers to look at implementing variable-rate technology, split fertilizer applications, and precision conservation technologies on their farms to really make those input dollars go farther,” Houin said. The district is offering Ashland County farmers access to five precision conservation modeling tools in 2022, all at 100 percent cost share: Winfield United’s Field Forecasting Tool, AdaptN, On-Field Ohio, Land O’Lakes’ Truterra Insights Engine and the Fieldprint Accelerator.

“These are exciting opportunities available for our producers to have access to these cutting-edge tools with no out-of-pocket expense,” Houin said. “There’s no other conservation district in the state, possibly in the country, that is bridging the gap between ag retailers and farmers to put these tools into the hands of producers with no out-of-pocket cost to the farmers.”

In addition to new programs and project opportunities, the district will also use the chat as an opportunity to introduce farmers to new SWCD staff. 

“We have a number of new staff members that farmers will be working with, and this is a great opportunity for our staff to get to interact with and get to know farmers on a personal level,” Houin said. New staff within the last year at the district include Conservation Specialist Katie Eikleberry, Watershed Program Assistant Joe Christner, Education and Outreach Assistant Jessica Vaughn, Fiscal Specialist Donna Wiseman, and AmeriCorps service member Ruth McCrea.

The Conservation Chat: Swipe Right for Conservation will take place at Hillsdale High School at 10 a.m.. There is no cost to attend and breakfast is provided. For more information, contact Ashland SWCD at 419-281-7645 or visit www.ashlandswcd.com