We celebrate stewardship every day

Are you ready for Stewardship Week? The 57th NACD Soil and Water Stewardship Week started yesterday, April 29 and runs through Sunday, May 6! This year's theme is "Soil to Spoon.”

The theme highlights the importance of knowing where your food comes from. The National Association of Conservation Districts could not have selected a more appropriate theme.

That is why the Indiana Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts and our 92 Soil and Water Conservation Districts and our great Indiana Conservation Partnership (ICP) work so hard to promote the "soil to spoon" story.


A sample of some very healthy soil protected
by cover crops over the winter from a farmer's field.

Cover crops protect against water and wind erosion and

improve soil quality.

The story begins with soil health and that is something we take very seriously here in Indiana. Simply, we believe maintaining soil health . . . whether it’s our vast acres of farmland across Indiana, or the soil in the yards, greenways and parks of our cities, towns and suburbs . . . it is all essential to protecting our natural resources.

The Conservation Cropping Systems INitiative (CCSI), and ICP program, helps Indiana farmers by promoting a systematic approach to production agriculture. CCSI specialists encourage the adoption of long-term continuous no-till practices on farmland, along with cover crops, nutrient and pest management and precision-farming technology, and the use of conservation buffers.

Hamilton County farmer Rodney Rulon is
planting soybeans into cereal rye, a cover crop.
Rulon is a Supervisor for the Hamilton County Soil and

Water  Conservation District.

Why?

Because it is providing us with: clean water to drink, and healthy soil to grow food and feed

And, that's good stewardship.