Soil and Water eats, learns, salutes members

Jerod Chew, ISDA Division of Soil Conservation, swears in new board member Kerry Williams and returning member Mike Martin. Jerod's son Keaton chose to be sworn in as a board member as well.

GREENCASTLE -- The Putnam County Soil and Water Conservation District held their 65th Conservation Celebration on Wednesday night at the Putnam County Fairgrounds Community Building.

The dinner meeting was well attended, and not only because of the chance to win a free rain barrel.

The SWCD held several workshops during the event, a first for the group, which could be used as CCA-CCE/CEU credits.

"We're excited to be able to do something new with the break-out sessions," said Kerry Ames, president of the SWCD. "We're always looking for new ways to promote conservation."

There were four workshops total, the first two being before the dinner and the second two coming afterward. The workshops dealt with rain barrel usage, the Big Walnut Watershed program and soil quality, among other topics.

Andy Nicholson gave a presentation during dinner about nitrogen levels within crops. Nicholson Consulting LLC performed an experiment in an attempt to better learn how much nitrogen should be placed in crops, as well as when it should be placed.

Using the OptRx, a technology provided by AgLeader that determines the level of nitrogen in crops and then controls the distribution, Nicholson performed an experiment in an attempt to discover whether the machine's approach was more effective than current methods at distributing nitrogen. Outlying factors may have altered the results however, but the technology showed little change in yield.

"We want to be as efficient as possible with our nitrogen," Nicholson said.

The meeting also recognized David Rowings as Woodland Owner of the year and Mark and Phyllis Legan as Conservation Farmers of the Year. The board also honored the service of Melvin Nicholson, who left the board after 30 years.

The Banner Graphic, Northern Salem State Bank and Farm Credit Services sponsored the event. The Putnam Inn catered the event. Kathy Cantonwine won the rain barrel in the raffle drawing, which is used to filter rainwater collected from roofs to be reused in gardens and other home applications.