By JOLENE CRAIG
Ohio Correspondent

WILLIAMSTOWN, W. Va. — After eight decades of resistance to changes in agriculture, a Williamstown livestock producer’s farm – located just a few miles east of the Ohio border – has been recognized for it by the state of West Virginia.

“(The state Department of Agriculture has) been after me for years to do this, and I finally said ‘yes,’” said farmer Eugene Grow, 80. “I was raised on this farm and I work it the way it’s always been done.”

Grow Farm, owned by Eugene, his wife, Juanita, and daughter Christina, was judged as one of six farms across the state up for the West Virginia Conservation Farm of the Year award Thursday afternoon. The farms were judged by the National Resource Conservation Service and the West Virginia Conservation Agency (WVCA) as part the West Virginia Department of Agriculture.
Grow’s farm was chosen as the best in the Little Kanawha Conservation District, which consists of Wood, Ritchie, Wirt, Calhoun and Gilmer counties, because he has pioneered conservation farming in the area for the last 40 years, said Jessica Nichols, administration officer for the WVCA based out of the district.

“Mr. Grow is ahead of his time with so many things, especially rotational grazing,” Nichols said. “He’s been doing it at least 40 years, and the state only started recommending it four years ago. He’s 36 years ahead of the game.”

Grow has resisted making major changes to the way he runs the 183-acre operation, which has more than 60 cattle, because he likes to do things in the manner he knows works.

“There is no need to change the way things are done if they are doing great on their own,” he said.

Nichols said the Grows do not plow any of their land, leaving it lush and green. “The drought we have been having has not affected the land – it’s still green and bright, and that’s thanks to Mr. Grow’s conservation farming,” Nichols said.

Grow Farm is part of the West Virginia Lime Incentives Program, Soil and Water Conservation Assistance, Agricultural Management Assistance and the Agricultural Conservation Program, while implementing its own efforts of spring developments, watering facilities and nutrient management.

“The most important things on a farm are timing and moisture, and I think I have figured those out,” Grow said.

For the competition, the judges, which included state Agriculture Commissioner Gus Douglass, were looking for the overall quality of conservation on the farm and how well farm maintenance is observed at the facility.

“We are looking for lovers of the land that have made the greatest contribution to preserving the land,” Douglass said about the competition. “Grow Farm and the others we have toured are wonderful examples of conservation efforts.”

Grow Farm is one of 22,000 family-owned farms in West Virginia, Douglass said. “The thing that impresses me the most is what we find off the beaten path – the true beauty of West Virginia,” he said. “This is the way it should be.”

The judging team seemed impressed by the conservation efforts the Grow family has been using, and the grass-feeding process.
“This is one of the premier farms in the county, and we want to use it as an example of grazing techniques across the state,” said Marvin Kerr of the USDA Department of Soil Conservation.

The winners will be announced Nov. 1 in Charleston, W. Va.

This farm news was published in the Aug. 29, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.