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Hardin and Shelby County farmers named Ohio Master Farmers for soil health leadership
This year’s Ohio Master Farmers have made soil health central to their management.
Third-generation farmer Jerry McBride grows 1,500 acres of corn and soybeans in Hardin County using 100 percent no-till and cover crops.
He tells Brownfield, “Most people don’t realize that a farmer only has 50 chances to get a crop or to get a decent yield, and, if you start changing things and messing it up, it hurts your pocketbook in a hurry.”
Michael Watercutter works as a conservation agronomist at American Farmland Trust and is the fourth generation of his family to farm in Shelby County. Watercutter says educating producers from his experience as a regenerative beef and crop farmer helps assure others what’s possible.
“The soil is what you’re farming and what you own,” he shares. ”We need to protect that and keep that alive for the next generation to take over. The best way to do that is to have as little tillage as possible, and adopting some of these conservation practices.”
Both were chosen for their commitment to conservation, agricultural leadership, and farm management.
The awards are presented by the Ohio Farmer Magazine and sponsored by Brownfield Ag News and the Ohio Conservation Tillage & Technology Conference.
Read more about their stories in the Ohio Farmer Magazine.
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Thank you Randall for helping us highlight Ohio farmers doing amazing work in and out of their fields, it’s always an honor!
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Nicole. Thanks for your role in honoring outstanding farmers at CTTC every year. You and Jennifer Kiel are great at interviewing, writing, and producing videos to highlight their contributions to agriculture.