The Leopold Conservation Award Program recognizes agricultural landowners actively committed to a land ethic and celebrates their extraordinary achievements in voluntary conservation as private landowners. Sand County Foundation, national sponsor American Farmland Trust, and several prominent state conservation partners present this award each year in states across the country. Participating states present their winner with $10,000 and a crystal award.

Many Soil Health Champions have received this prestigious award over the years, and in 2022, two Champions have been named recipients.

This year Kansas presented the award to Michael Thompson of Almena, and Missouri presented the award to Ryan Britt of Clifton Hill. Follow the links above to view the video productions which include interviews and highlights of their operations.

To view past recipients (some of them Soil Health Champions), view the Sand County Foundation website, click on the previous years for a list of videos to watch from winners across the country, and prepare to be inspired!

Congratulations to Michael and Ryan!

Soil Health Champion Don Jackson recently reported that he is part of a group which is organizing and chartering a new 501(c)3 non-profit organization in SC – the “South Carolina Regenerative Livestock Producer Network”.

The objective of this network is to build the capacity of regenerative livestock producers and grazers in South Carolina. Through the SC Regenerative Livestock Producer Network they look to reach out to other like-minded livestock producers to show and tell the benefits of regenerative agricultural practices to soil health, water infiltration, forage diversity, improved livestock health, and less use of costly inputs. They aim to demonstrate how these benefits are achieved through less tillage, a maintained ground covered, and little to no commercial fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides.

As things are just getting started with the network, we'll watch for more to come in the near future! Keep us posted, Don!

Over the past years NACD has gathered recommended book titles, authors, and publishers for further soil health learning and promoted them through our quarterly bulletin and in our Facebook Group. You can now find all of them and many more on the NACD webpage under the section "Suggested Readings and Resources." This section contains four lists:

Some of the books we have listed are even written by Soil Health Champions!

If you would like to suggest a book, publisher, or author to be added, please email beth-mason@nacdnet.org.

Grazin' Hell is a podcast produced by the American Grassfed Association. Episodes include interviews of small American farmers and ranchers who graze on pastures. Their operations utilize and promote regenerative agricultural practices and work to have a positive impact on the U.S. food system. For more information, visit their website or your source for podcasts.

Hosted by three farmers, Field Work is a podcast that provides space for frank discussions about the benefits and challenges of sustainable agriculture. Hosted by Zach Johnson, Soil Health Champion Mitchell Hora, and Tara Vander Dussen, the program explores the successes and challenges farmers experience as they adopt new practices, while still getting into the weeds on the difficulties. For more information, visit their website or your source for podcasts.

A program with complementary goals to the NACD Soil Health Champions Network is the Soil for Water program with the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT). NCAT has many great resources, especially through their ATTRA Sustainable Agriculture Program, but through Soil for Water, they aim to support American farmers, ranchers, and land managers who want to make their land more resilient, their businesses more profitable, and their lives better through regenerative practices to catch and hold more water in the soil.

Soil for Water is a free, voluntary program which

Since Soil for Water began in 2015, they have supported 15-20 Texas livestock operations in on-farm experiments including high stocking density for short duration, subsoil ripping, pasture cropping, multi-species grazing, and native seed planting. Through this research, they are measuring the effects of these practices on soil health, ground cover, and plant biodiversity. By visiting their website, you can click on their interactive map and learn more about these ranchers, their operations, and their experiments in retaining more water and improving their soil health.

While Soil for Water is not supporting any new research trials, if you would like help designing and running your own trial, or measuring changes in your land and soil, contact soilforwater@ncat.org.

The second annual Big Soil Health Event was another great success, held on December 5 - 6 in Cedar Falls, IA. This event, is part of Soil Regen's commitment to education on regenerative agriculture, providing producers, landowners, consumers, and food and ag industry members with a ground-up educational experience. The Big Soil Health Event encourages and illuminates soil health practice adoption and highlights the benefits to the land, water quality and human health. This year’s event featured a systems approach to soil and human health, including diverse speakers ranging from farmers, soil health advocates, scientists, and health care professionals.

One of Soil Regen's co-owners is Soil Health Champion Russell Hedrick of Hickory, NC. After more than a year of isolation due to COVID, he and co-owner Liz Haney went on a soil health tour of the South, the Great Plains, and the Midwest. They came back energized and established Soil Regen as a consulting company. Their team also includes Soil Health Champions Jimmy Emmons of Oklahoma, Michael Thompson of Kansas, and David Brandt of Ohio.

To learn more about Soil Regen and to be the first to hear about the next Big Soil Health Event, check out their website. And for a recap in photos of this event, follow Soil Regen on Facebook!

Photo credit: Facebook post from Cedar Falls Tourism and Elliot Tensen Photography

Please continue to email Beth Mason, NACD North Central Region Representative, any activities, events, news articles, and interviews so we can help share your message.

This fall, NACD welcomed seven new Soil Health Champions!

Jose Dela Cruz - Northern Mariana Islands

TJ Love - Oklahoma

Jeff Hiner - Oklahoma

Steve Easom - Oklahoma

Margie Raimondo - Arkansas

Marquita Hall - Alabama

Scott Berndt - California

While our Soil Health Champions use and promote good soil health practices across the country, they don't do it for the recognition. However, their work does not go unnoticed. Congratulations to the following Champions this past quarter for the impacts they've made in their communities and beyond.

This fall, Soil Health Champion Ed McNamara of Minnesota was one of three individuals winning the Cannon River Champion Award. This award was presented by the Clean River Partners for the work McNamara does on his farm and in the community to protect the soil and water in the Cannon River Watershed.

On November 17, Soil Health Champion Allen Skinner of Florida received the 2022 Service to Agriculture Award for Duval County. This award was presented to Skinner for his work with farmers implementing soil health and conservation measures.

Cover Crop Strategies Volume 3 is now available for free download. In this Management volume, Cover Crop Strategies aims to share stories and examples of how cover crops can and have a positive impact on an operation. In this issue, different practices are examined such as inter-seeding, double-cropping, livestock integration and much more. Click on the link below for your free copy.

Are you a member of our Facebook Group? If you are an NACD Soil Health Champion or the conservation district/ Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) employee who sponsors a Champion, be sure you connect with us on Facebook.

Share your conservation articles, your pictures, your updates and your events with us by connecting through Facebook! This is just another way to network with other Champions.

So, be sure to search for "NACD Soil Health Champions" and request to join today!