Taking care of the land for future

MT. PLEASANT - Being environmentally conscious and using sustainable practices is just part of farming for Greg and Aimee Shepherd.

The Henry County family was recently recognized with an Iowa Farm Environmental Leader Award for their efforts in keeping soil healthy and improving water quality.

The couple, who have been farming for about seven years, have about 500 acres of row crops and a herd of approximately 30 purebred charolais. Although the family does not yet farm full-time, they hope to be within the next five to 10 years.

'We've kind of, step-by-step, worked back into farming,” Greg said.

The couple added they are taking a slower transition into farming to make sure they're 'doing it right.”

'We're trying to grow smart,” Aimee said.

The Shepherds, who both come from farming families, said farming was always in their future plans but had an early start after several deaths in their families prompted them to begin taking over operations sooner than expected.

'We always thought, ‘One day, we'll have a few cattle.' Well, ‘one day' just came sooner,” Aimee added.

Both husband and wife grew up understanding the importance of being good stewards of the land. Greg said he remembers no-till practices being especially important as he watched his family farm when he was a child. Greg would pursue his passion for farming in college, majoring in environmental science at Central College before getting a masters in sustainable agriculture from Iowa State University.

The couple, who have four sons, said they are conscious that a lot of farming can often be dependent on what is passed down from generation to generation. As the family begins taking over more of their family farms, they also have taken on the attitude of improving and protecting the environment to pass on to their own children.

'So much of farming, especially for our generation, is dependent on the prior generation and what you are given … we've been taught to take care of what's been given to us, and we want to be good stewards of what we have,” Aimee said.

On their own farm, the couple practice reduced tillage, plant cover crops and have built terraces and buffer strips to help preserve soil fertility as well as having ruminant animals for grazing.

The couple said they try to think of their operation on a large scale and on 'how a whole system can work for decades at a minimum.”

'The way I've defined sustainable agriculture is balancing environmental, social and economic: taking care of the environment, not having to work ourselves to death and the time and money for what a farmer produces,” Greg added of the family's philosophy on farming.

The couple, who have plans to expand their sustainable agriculture and environmental practices, said they were excited to be recognized by the state.

'We were surprised. It was a nice honor to have people locally to put us up and to be recognized,” Aimee said.

'We have other things planned. We've done cover crops for a few years - this year, we've done more acres than ever before,” Greg added.

The couple said they feel honored to receive the award, especially as an operation that they feel still is 'starting out.”

'It was really cool. We just want to express a lot of gratitude to all of the local farmers and conservation organizations,” Aimee said.