LONDON, Ohio – When Warren County, Ohio, farmer Jon Branstrator was asked recently what kind of tillage he uses, with pride and confidence he replied, “earthworms.”

For more than 20 years, Jon Branstrator has been on a mission to farm smarter, from both a business and environmental perspective. In his waterways, he plants pollinator strips, including milkweed for monarch butterflies. He is concerned about soil health and utilizes solar power as a blueprint for his success. He focuses on heritage grains. Rather than growing ordinary commodity wheat, he is growing unusual varieties, like the hard red winter wheat Red Fife, along with hard and soft white wheat varieties. He also grows Danko rye and has established a breeding plot for naked barley. His farm includes Clarage corn and Leaming’s yellow corn developed in southwest Ohio in the 1850s.

A conservation farmer? You bet. Last month Branstrator and four other Ohio farmers were honored as winners of the 2022 Conservation Farm Family Award. The honor was given last month at the Farm Science Review in London. The honor is given to farmers in five areas of the state. Branstrator is the Area 4 winner.

“Jon’s philosophy goes by the old saying, ‘The best fertilizer is the footsteps of the farmer,’” said Molly Conley, director of the Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), who nominated him for the award. “He is always observing the land to try to make it the best it can be and to spread the word about how others can do the same.”

Jon is farming on what was his father’s farm, including 175 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat, rye and cover crops, in Clarksville. In addition to pollinator-friendly, multi-species cover crops, the farm is completely no-till, and has several water and sediment control basins. When he recently noticed some erosion on one hillside, he started planting a little prairie strip of deep-rooted grasses.

Branstrator designed and built a 7.5-kilowatt solar system after attending a five-day course. Beyond the solar panels is a cover crop field of sunflowers he harvests for bird seed. He also conserves energy by driving a Chevy Volt car that’s a plug-in hybrid.

“It goes about 40 miles before the gasoline motor kicks in,” he said. “I choose not to drive a one-ton diesel pickup truck around when all I have to do is pick up some parts. I’m actually running on sunshine, and that feels pretty good.”

The Branstrator farm is rich in history. In the late 18th century, the land was known as the Virginia Military District, and huge chunks of it were given to soldiers in the Revolutionary War in lieu of payment. Col. Stephen Mason received 1,000 acres in 1802. He sold 400 of them to Branstrator’s great-great grandfather, Andrew Branstrator, two years later.

The Area 5 winner was Nathan Brown, of Highland County. Brown utilizes no-till farming, grass waterways, crop rotations, cover crops and nutrient management to conserve his first-generation farmland and ensure its value in the future. Brown farms 1,200 acres of corn, soybeans and wheat, and tends to cattle and sheep.

“We want to make sure that we are leaving our soil in as good or better shape than we found it for generations to come,” Brown said. “We have limited resources with our soils, and they take so long to reproduce and to regenerate themselves, so if we’re doing practices that are promoting erosion then we are losing all that topsoil, and that a very precious commodity that we don’t want to lose.”

Brown works to help other farmers in their efforts to protect Ohio’s natural resources.

Area 1 winner was Settlage Farm, of Auglaize County. The family’s 500-acre farm includes organic pasture, organic soybeans, organic corn, organic milk cows, heifers and hogs. The farm is managed organically and is consistent with diverse crops, pasture, livestock and woodland in conservation.

Area 2 winner was the Baltes farm, of Mahoning County. Baltes farm is a third-generation, 1,000-acre family farm which produces corn, beans and wheat. The Baltes family has long worked with the Mahoning SWCD and the Natural Resources Conservation Service to implement conservation practices. Though the farm operated as a dairy for decades, Baltes transitioned to growing grain and cover crops within the past few years. Baltes created and restored small wetlands on the property to trap sediment and nutrient runoff.

Area 3 winner is Claylick Run Farm in Licking County. The farm, run by the Felumlee family, is made up of nearly 1,300 acres of corn, soybeans, alfalfa/grass hay and beef cattle. Orville Felumlee began farming in 1961. He became the first farmer in Licking County to use no-till in the late 1960s, and he hosted no-till and forage field days. His son, David, now runs the farm.

“We try to rotate fields every four or five years to build up organic matter and soil just to get a different rotation,” said David, who adds that the family is conservation-minded in all aspects of their farm program.

Since 1984, the Conservation Farm Family Awards program has recognized Ohio farm families for their exemplary efforts conserving soil, water, woodland, wildlife and other natural resources on the land they farm.