I can’t imagine any farmer not wanting $10,000. Now being deserving of it, that’s another matter. All the farmers I know are good stewards of the land so maybe they should all be nominated. A dairy farmer won last time. It could happen again.
Nominations are now being accepted for American Farmland Trust’s 2007 Steward of the Land Award. The $10,000 prize is presented each year to a farmer or rancher that best exemplifies American Farmland Trust’s mission of stopping the loss of productive farmland and promoting farming practices that lead to a healthy environment.
Nomination forms can be completed online, or can easily be printed out for completion by tradition methods at the same address. You may also call 202-378-1255 for an application, or with questions. Nomination materials will be accepted until 5 p.m. EST on Friday, December 1, 2006.
Tom Hutson, a dairy farmer from DeLancey, NY was named the 10th Steward of the Land earlier this year. He operates River Haven Farm in New York’s Catskill Mountains, part of the Catskill-Delaware watershed, where reservoirs supply drinking water for millions of New York City residents. By working with the locally-based Watershed Agricultural Council (WAC), and often himself serving as the pilot-site for project, Hutson and neighboring farmers have kept the watershed pristine enough to satisfy federal drinking water standards, sparing New York City the cost of a billion dollar water filtration plant. He and fellow farmers have participated by conserving their land and implementing conservation practices with technical and financial assistance from WAC.