BARDEWELL, Ky. – In 2017, Brad Reddick and his son Joel attended the National No-Till Conference and it profoundly changed they way they farmed. Those changes paid off in a big way when Reddick Farms of Bardwell was awarded the 2022 Kentucky Leopold Conservation Award. 

This prestigious award, given in honor of renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold, recognizes extraordinary achievement in voluntary conservation and management of natural resources by American farmers, ranchers and forestland owners in 24 states. The Kentucky award carried a $10,000 prize.

Brad and Amy Reddick implemented a rotational grazing program and other conservation practices to reduce soil erosion and improve water quality at their crop and beef cattle farm in Carlisle County.

At the No-Till Conference Brad and Joel listened to keynote speaker Ray Archuleta and his topic, “It Starts with the Soil.” What the two heard that day about regenerative agriculture would forever change the way they farm.

Archuleta promoted eliminating tillage, growing diverse winter cover crops, planting corn and soybeans into cover crops, reducing synthetic input costs, and grazing livestock on row crop acres. The Reddicks soon thereafter implemented all of these conservation practices.

 “I go all over the state and as far as conservation is concerned this farm is a top-notch program,” said Chris Steward, Kentucky’s Precision Conservation Specialist. “The regenerative practices they use are very unique. This family has put in the time and effort and it has paid off big time. Their soil is so healthy.”

The way their soil cycles water, nutrients and carbon vastly improved. Their 1,800 acres are now a regenerative showcase. The backbone of this change was switching from vertical tillage to no-till, and replacing single small species of cover crops to diverse, large cover crops.

The Reddicks have a number of different cover crop “recipes” for different uses. This past spring they planted soybeans on May 11 and included a mix of crimson clover, balansa clover, Austrian winter pea, winter oats, cereal rye, winter triticale and daikon radish. While the clovers boasted flowers, which attracted and nourished pollinators, the cereal rye and oats kept the soil in place and the radishes did a good job of drilling through the compaction and breaking up the soil.

 “In 2018 we did a total about face with our farming practices,” Brad said. “The first stop was going from no-till farming to cover crop farming. The cover crop was essentially as important as the cash crop.”

According to Brad, not tilling soil prior to planting crops each spring increases the soil’s infiltration and conserves moisture, which buffers against drought.

The Reddicks’ unique cover crop system builds soil organic matter, reduces erosion and suppresses weeds. A blend of cover crops species is custom matched for each field’s crop rotation. The covers are planted immediately after the fall harvest and grow until they are flattened by a roller-crimper the following spring.

Cover crops absorb nutrients and then release them back to feed corn plants as they mature. Reddick says this win-win scenario reduces nutrient loss by storing it in the cover crop and later increasing corn fertility and yield. This natural uptake of nutrients reduces the need for commercial fertilizers.

Reddick Farms incorporates manure from its beef cattle herd and litter from its poultry broiler flock into its fields with low soil disturbance equipment to improve their soil’s biological properties. Soil and tissue samples are tested to ensure that phosphorus and other fertilizers are not over-applied.

The Reddicks see erosion as a symptom of a larger problem rather than the problem itself. Erosion is the result of a broken water cycle when soil cannot infiltrate the water falling onto it. Soil tests have shown a reduction in volume of nutrients leaving fields after just three years of cover crops and limited fertilizer use.

The Reddicks adopted cost-effective conservation practices to improve regional water quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions with assistance from the National Resources Conservation Service. Wildlife habitat is provided in the farm’s wooded areas that are enrolled in a conservation reserve program.

Elsewhere, there are 40 acres of buffer strips along creeks and 20 acres of perennial waterways. Rock chutes of loose riprap-lined channels safely convey water to a lower elevation while protecting the soil surface.

According to Brad, the tile drainage is used to lower the water table of fields near the creek bottoms. It prevents surface drainage and allows the soil to filter nutrients from water before it’s released into the creek.

The Reddick’s cattle are fenced away from waterways to prevent stream bank erosion. A benefit of their rotational grazing system leaves the height of grazed pastures tall enough to capture and soak in rainfall instead of letting it run off.

 “I love the land we live on and I conserving it for the next generation,” Brad said. “To me, land ethic would be taking care of what you’ve been given and leave it better than the way you found it for the next generation that follows.”

In Kentucky, the $10,000 award is presented annually by Sand County Foundation, national sponsor American Farmland Trust, and state partners: Kentucky Agricultural Council and the Kentucky Association of Conservation Districts.