The Rohrer Family of “R”-Farm in Strasburg, Lancaster County; Mike and Donna Olsyn of Columbia Cross Roads, Bradford County; and Charles “Boots” Hubler of Morrisdale, Clearfield County; were selected to receive the 2006 Pennsylvania Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Farm Award.

The Clean Water Farm Award, initiated in 1986, recognizes farmers within Pennsylvania’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, who manage their daily farm operation while keeping a watchful eye on water quality. The farms’ conservation plans address issues that help control potential pollutants such as eroded soil, pesticides, and fertilizers from entering streams or groundwater supplies.

The Rohrer Family of “R”-Farm manages a farm with 110,000 poultry while farming 100 acres of cropland in Strasburg. The Rohrer Family implements numerous Best Management Practices, a combination of practices determined to be the most effective, practical means of reducing pollution.

For example, switchgrass, which forms a dense mass of vegetation, is planted to help control soil erosion. The mass also provides valuable cover for wildlife in the winter.

Another BMP on “R”-Farm is recycling the waste their chickens produce. The waste is sold to mushroom growers in Chester County who use the nutrients in the chicken waste to grow mushroom crops. Then, the spent mushroom soil comes back to “R”-Farm to be sold to gardeners, landscapers, and other farmers as a soil amendment.

Recipients Mike and Donna Olsyn own and operate a 300 plus acre farm that includes a dairy herd of 95 cows and 80 heifers. The Olsyns constructed a concrete manure storage facility that stores manure through the winter to eliminate the need for spreading manure on frozen ground when the nutrients can’t be integrated into the soil.

Spreading manure in winter could lead to nutrients washing off the fields and polluting waterways in the spring. Manure is now spread in the spring and early summer when it can be incorporated into the soil reducing the possibility of runoff into nearby waters.

The Olsyns have also constructed a wetland to treat barnyard runoff. The discharge from the wetland goes to a grass filter area. The wetland and filter area absorb and treat the waste, removing the potentially harmful nutrients from entering waterways.

Charles “Boots” Hubler owns 159 acre crop farm with 25 head of beef cattle and 25 calves. To protect water quality, stream bank fencing is used to prevent livestock from entering waterways and eroding the banks.

Boots uses contour farming, crop rotations, and a grassed waterway which traps soil to help prevent erosion in his fields. He also uses rotational grazing in which grass-fed livestock is periodically moved from one area to another to allow the pasture time to re-grow the grasses that will prevent soil erosion.

Recipients of the annual Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Farm Award are nominated by county conservation district staff. This annual award program is coordinated by the Pennsylvania Chesapeake Bay Education Office (administered by PACD, a private, nonprofit organization representing Pennsylvania’s 66 county conservation districts).

The awards are sponsored jointly by the Department of Environmental Protection’s Chesapeake Bay Program and the Department of Agriculture to recognize farmers who implement Best Management Practices.

For more information, visit the Chesapeake Bay Farm Awards webpage.

3/31/2006