Sandquists receive two conservation awards

FAIRFIELD — Jefferson County residents Harold and Dee Sandquist have been honored for their conservation efforts on their farm east of Fairfield.

The Sandquists received the “Conservation Farmer of the Year” award from both the Jefferson County Soil & Water Conservation District and the same award from the 13-county Region 9 of the Conservation Districts of Iowa. The couple received the awards during the Barnyard Bash Friday at Maasdam Barns in Fairfield.

Ray Woody, one of the five members of the Jefferson County Soil & Water Conservation District Board, said the county has many families committed to conservation practices, but the Sandquists stood out.

“Harold and Dee have done an outstanding job of implementing conservation practices such as installing lots of tile and terrace projects, doing almost entirely no-till, and planting cover crops on 95-100 percent of all crop ground,” Woody said. “The Sandquists have a vision for the future. They want to not only build soil health, but protect it against erosion, soil loss and nutrient loss. They’re good stewards of the land.”

Woody explained that no-till has become a priority for conservationists because they’ve found that tilling can lead to soil being blown away in the wind or washed away in the rain.

“No-till builds organic matter in the soil and holds the soil in place,” he said.

Harold and Dee have lived on their farm since 2008. Dee said she grew up on a farm east of Fairfield, not this same one but one nearby, but moved away from the area and then moved back to Jefferson County. Her husband also grew up on a farm.

Dee said she and her husband have experimented with cover crops such as cereal rye, triticale, and most recently turnips. Dee said they don’t harvest these cover crops. Instead, their purpose is to improve the soil quality for the main crop grown on the land, such as corn or soybeans.

“When it’s dry, the cover crop helps to hold water, and when it’s wet, they help to drain the water,” Dee said. “They hold nutrients in the soil that would otherwise be washed away.”

Woody said his board planned to honor the Sandquists with the county award during the Barnyard Bash, and then learned in early August that the Sandquists had been selected as winners of the regional award, too. The couple received a pair of plaques during an awards presentation during the Barnyard Bash.

The awards are sponsored by Jefferson County Farm Bureau.