The Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts this week announced that Curry Wagner of Hummelstown, Dauphin County, and Ron and Catherine Kittle of Bradford County, have been named recipients of the 2007 Pennsylvania Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Farm Awards.

PACD will recognize these award recipients on July 17 in Scranton during PACD's annual conservation awards program. To further acknowledge their accomplishments, the landowners will receive certificates and large “Clean Water Farm Award” signs to erect on their properties.

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.

Curry Wagner and his family operate a broiler and beef cattle operation while farming about 60 acres. The Wagner family implements many Best Management Practices (BMPs), a combination of practices determined to be the most effective, practical means of reducing pollution.

They participated in the Dauphin County Conservation District’s Chesapeake Bay Program and incorporated such BMPs as roof runoff management, water control structures and underground outlets to improve the barnyard.

The Wagner farm works closely with a crop consultant to balance rates of commercial fertilizer and manure use on the fields. They also implement an Integrated Pest Management Program and work closely with conservation partners to insure that all fields are covered by conservation plans.

Recipients Ron and Catherine Kittle own and operate a 200 plus acre farm in Bradford County that includes a dairy herd of 48 cows and 33 heifers and calves. The Kittles have used a no-till system of crop production for the past 18 years. The no-till system allows the operator opportunities to spread manure without adversely impacting the environment.

In addition to practicing no-till, the Kittles are advocates for this conservation practice on other farms and serve as a resource to farmers new to the practice. They also implement crop rotation and contour farming practices to reduce soil erosion and storm water runoff. Ron and Catherine were recently selected as Bradford County’s Outstanding Conservation Cooperators.

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.

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 BMPs.

The Pennsylvania Chesapeake Bay Education Office conducts numerous activities promoting the theme, “We All Live Downstream.”

3/30/2007