Moe family honored for farm conservation; Mower SWCD recognizes Waltham farmers with annual award

Published 8:06 am Thursday, August 9, 2018

The Moe family of Waltham Township, consisting of Rod Moe, his wife, Colleen, and daughter, Rachel, was honored as the 2018 Conservationist of the Year for Mower County on Tuesday evening by Mower Soil and Water Conservation District at the Mower County Fair’s opening ceremony.

Rod Moe started farming with his father in 1985 – the same year he graduated from high school. His family then built a house and started life on the farm in 1987.

Moe realized he would be losing rented acres for his farming operation when the landowner unveiled his plans to convert cropland into prairie. When the landowner asked for his thoughts, however, Moe told him, “I’d be more disappointed if you didn’t put that land into the conservation program. That’s what you should do with that land.”

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That conservation-minded perspective has guided Moe in his farming for years. This has involved Moe making changes to his farm that stand differently than other area farms and the way his late father, Richard, approached farming.

“Rod is a little bit of a different cooperator in that he has been quietly adopting conservation practices and transforming his farms into a sustainable model for what he thinks is the right thing to do,” said Justin Hanson, district manager for Mower Soil and Water Conservation District. “He embraces the challenge of figuring things out for himself and trying innovative ways to farm.”

Today, Moe and his family farm about 800 acres, even though he works a full-time job during the day and helps with custom farming work in the area.

Especially since 2011, Moe has been significantly involved with conservation programs and practices, including nutrient-management planning; cover crops; strip tillage; and native grass buffers.

Over the years, Moe voluntarily established vegetative buffer strips on his land, including along ditches that aren’t under the new state buffer law. Earlier this year, Moe enrolled about six acres into pollinator prairie through the federal Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).

Moe is also part of the voluntary Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that encourages agriculture producers to enhance conservation systems by improving, maintaining and managing existing conservation activities as well as undertaking new conservation activities.

“He is the reason that we get into this line of work – to have the chance to work with people who operate with a high level of integrity and adopt conservation practices because they believe in their value,” Hanson said.

Local SWCDs annually nominate farmers, individuals, conservation organizations and other groups for implementing conservation practices and improving the natural resources.

The family will be honored, along with other Soil and Water Conservation District honorees, in December at the 82nd annual convention of the Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts.