LONDON, Ohio – They work hard each year to protect and conserve the soil, water and related natural resources on the land they farm. Their good works haven’t gone unnoticed.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture’s Division of Soil and Water Conservation will recognize five families with the Ohio Conservation Farm Family Award on Sept. 18 at this year’s Farm Science Review. The division’s program emphasizes the application of technically sound, innovative and cost-effective conservation practices and encourages the sharing of this information with other farmers and the general public.

The winners will be honored by a private luncheon and a $400 award courtesy of Ohio Farm Bureau Federation.

The families to be honored are:

• Hatfield family: Ernie, Dewey and Mark, of Bethel

• Miller family: Brad and Jane, of Wingett Run

• Corcoran family: Greg, Dennis, Dan and Tim, of Chillicothe

• Atterholt family: Mike and Aaron, of Loudonville

• McBride family: Jerry and Jayna, of Dola

The Hatfields were faced with gully issues on their farm and they took on this problem by using no-till farming, which then led to growing cover crops. The use of cover crops helped them address the challenges of hydric soils by improving infiltration, slowing water runoff and reducing soil erosion.

They have used cover crop mixes in the past but learned that wheat was the most economical and fits the farm’s needs. This past year they planted a cover of wheat on all 500 acres, with 290 acres used as a cover crop only followed by soybeans. Some of the winter wheat was drilled, and some of it was planted with the combine.

The trio utilizes relay cropping, which is the practice of planting a second crop into the first crop. Relay beans are generally planted about a month before wheat harvest. The heads of the wheat are cut while the beans are less than knee-high. The family applied limestone to low areas in their fields prone to erosion.

“It’s nice to safely perform field machine work without having to worry about driving into a gully,” Ernie said.

In the process of improving the soil and controlling erosion, they also have increased the farm’s soil organic matter the past 12 years.

The Hatfields have shared their strategies and unique planting methods during many field days and at least 15 grazing schools.

“It’s about saving the soil and profitability,” Ernie said.

Brad and Jane Miller are dubbed conservation champs in a challenging terrain. Their farm in southeast Ohio sits among the hills of Wayne National Forest, terrain that might be better suited for forestry than farming. Yet despite these natural limitations, this couple have transformed potential obstacles into opportunities with more than 40 years of dedicated stewardship.

Today, they have one of the premier registered herds in the eastern U.S., raising 150 head of full-blood Blonde d’Aquitaine cattle for freezer beef and bulls, while farming 400 acres of pasture and forages in Monroe County.

With no real dependable water source, the family built a half-acre, 15-foot-deep pond on the property. He then put in a water system, with more than 10,000 feet of buried lines servicing 17 permanent waterers in 25 paddocks. Fencing excludes the cattle from the pond, as well as adjacent forests.

The Millers practice no-till and have installed contour strips to keep the soil intact.

To enhance wildlife, the Millers let fencerows grow, and they have installed wildlife plot seedings and implemented wildlife protection strategies, which involve cutting forage from the inside of the field out to allow animals to escape.

Sharing the benefits of conservation practices is important to the Millers, who have attended many grazing meetings. Their farm has been a stop on a grazing tour.

The Corcoran family tends to corn, soybeans, popcorn, hay and cattle on their 4,500-acre farm in south-central Ohio. They use a variety of cover crops, no-till practices, forestry management and water conservation techniques. And, they maintain year-round vegetation on 4,250 acres of their farmland, noting that it preserves soil integrity, retains nutrients, captures carbon and builds organic matter.

They’ve explored various planting techniques, including drone-seeding into standing crops and attaching seeders to vertical tillage equipment during stalk chopping.

While cereal rye and crimson clover remain their staple cover crops, they continuously experiment with different combinations.

“We’ve tested pure clover stands in select fields, and previously tried mixtures of barley, clover and rapeseed without rye,” Greg said. “It’s about discovering what each species contributes to our specific goals. Farmers need to identify their objectives first, then determine how cover crops can advance those goals.”

Their commitment to conservation extends to community education through school visits, career day presentations and advocacy at Ag Day at the Capitol.

Mike and Aaron Atterholt farm 800 acres in Ashland County. In 2008, the two bought their grandparents’ 60-acre homestead, adding fencing and cattle. Immediately, they took some crop ground out of production and added a 150-head black Angus cow-calf herd. Their farm size grew quickly and today they tend to 720 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat and hay using no-till and minimum-tillage practices.

“We felt we could better utilize the land, protect and preserve it,” Mike said, “by running cattle on it in permanent pasture.”

Their gently rolling farmland contains some steep slopes, making it highly erodible. A grass buffer strip was established to help hold soil and catch any runoff. There is a stream on the property, so the brothers installed more than 850 feet of fencing to keep the cattle away from the waterways.

“We all know what happens when cattle have access to streams, they want to be in the water and make a mess of the banks, causing erosion,” Mike said. “We developed an artesian well and we plumbed that into two concrete water troughs for livestock. We have about 500 feet of underground piping going to two different pastures.”

Mike is the Ohio Angus Association president while Aaron recently completed three three-year terms on the Farm Service Agency committee. Their farm hosts livestock judging practices for Ohio State University, OSU Agricultural Technical Institute and local 4-H clubs.

Conservation is always at the forefront for Jerry McBride, who has been no-tilling for three decades and has embraced numerous other conservation practices to keep his soil and nutrients in place at his farm in northwest Ohio.

McBride, 64, farms 1,500 acres in Hardin County. Fresh out of college in 1982, McBride started farming his grandfather’s 130 acres, and three years later purchased another 126 acres. He quickly learned the one of the keys to farming is good water control and drainage. He also rents an additional 1,000 acres.

McBride has added cover crops and has been 100 percent no-till for nearly 30 years. And, he’s big into water control. Because of bedrock on his land, it’s prone to washing out. Through the Natural Resources Conservation Service, he put eight acres in the Conservation Reserve Program to keep nutrients on the farm and not down the creek into Lake Erie.

In 2014, he purchased a 40-kilowatt solar system, which is arranged on the roof of his barn. In the summer, net metering builds a credit, so that when he fires up the grain system in the fall it pulls from the credit with the goal of being net zero at the end of the year.

“After 10 years, my electric bill would have been about $62,000. Instead, my out-of-pocket was $1,500,” McBride said.

McBride has hosted conservation tours for commissioners, farmers and media to showcase best management practices. He has also been a 4-H adviser for 20 years and a staunch FFA supporter.