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Hog/crop farm wins Missouri Leopold Conservation award

The owner/operators of a hog production and row crop farm in central Missouri are winners of the Missouri Leopold Conservation Award.

Kenny Brinker and his family are being recognized at the 2020 Missouri Pork Expo. They have a farrow to wean operation in Auxvasse, have contract partners who raise their hogs to market size and are part of a producer owned packing plant.

The Brinkers were one of the nation’s first farm families to adopt the National Pork Board’s Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan,.

Kenny Brinker tells Brownfield Ag News, “My little grandkids, they always like watching the Lion King and they talk about the circle of life. It works that way with our farming operation because all the manure that’s produced by the pigs gets put on the field to fertilize to raise a corn crop. And then the corn is harvested. We use that and put it in a grain bin and use it for our feed source to feed another group of pigs and so then those pigs will produce fertilizer for the next crop. So it’s one way to be very sustainable on the hog side.”

The hog manure is spread on coun fields and corn is fed to their pigs and on and on. The Brinkers grow 4200 acres of corn and soybeans and started using cover crops five years ago. Brinker says they’re amazed how it’s improved soil fertility and preservation…

“When we have run-off from the fields during heavy rain events we’re just almost shocked by how much cleaner the water coming out of the fields, running into the branches and streams and waterways is, compared to even just a few years ago when we used no-till only.” And they’ve seen a bump in yields.