Washington family wins state ag award

WASHINGTON — Mike and Karen Bates, owners of Bates Family Farms, were presented with the Wergin Good Farm Neighbor Award Thursday. The recognition is given to family operations that are active in the community, hold high animal care standards, and take efforts for environmental conservation on their land.

Mike Bates said the honor could easily go to any of his neighbors.

“Everyone in Washington County, farmers and so on, deserve this award,” he said. “It takes soil conservation and taking good care of your livestock, and it’s a team effort … Karen and I just happened to receive this award, but all of my neighbors are great neighbors to work together with, and that’s what Washington County’s all about.”

State Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, who presented the award Thursday afternoon, said he was equally impressed with the area’s farmers.

“Washington County, there’s a lot to be proud of,” he said in a speech. “This is the origin of so many things we’re talking about today from cover crops, soil health, no-till, we just point back to you. Many of these were implemented, really at a big scale, for the first time in Washington County.”

The community involvement noted by the award was evident during the ceremony, where dozens of the Bates’ friends and neighbors turned out to show their support. Mike Bates is currently a member of the Iowa Turkey Federation, the Iowa Farm Bureau, the Iowa Soybean Association, the Iowa Corn Growers Association and the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association, according to an Iowa Department of Agriculture (DOA) news release.

“We have a family that’s plugged into this community,” Naig said. “You all wouldn’t be here if they weren’t … there’s a lot of supporting cast, there’s a lot of businesses, core networks that are required for a farm to be successful. That is part of what makes Iowa very special, so that is what we’re celebrating today.”

Robert Achen, a farmer who nominated the Bates back for the award in 2019, vouched for the family’s extensive involvement.

“I’ve been around Mike for 20 or 30 years … I was just always impressed with how great of a neighbor he is and how helpful he is to people,” Achen said. “Not only locally, but he’s gone to Haiti and helped drill wells. He went to Ecuador and helped build a church. He’s done a lot of things, I’ve always been impressed … he’s just such a hard worker, and yet he makes time to help other people.”

The Bates ran a turkey farm for 33 years before recently transitioning the operation to a new owner. Mike Bates started the farm — which also grows corn, soy alfalfa and a Black Angus herd — after completing high school in 1972.

The DOA said the Bates showed a history of good practices, including terraces, buffer strips and no-till techniques on most of their row crops, as well as a history of top-notch animal care.

“All their turkey barns were environmentally controlled and equipped with comprehensive biosecurity programs made possible by digital monitors and alarms,” a news release from the department said. “The Bates family kept detailed records of their antibiotic-free flock and were reviewed annually by West Liberty Foods. They are also Beef Quality Assurance certified, further ensuring their ability to provide top-notch animal care.”

Naig said Bates was a natural pick for the award.

“He’s an early leader in the Turkey industry and was one of the founding members of West Liberty Foods, a Turkey cooperative of growers,” he said. “And he’s been a mentor of a lot of Turkey growers, even now, passing his own operation onto somebody else, a different operator.”

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