COUNTY SWCD LAUDS TWO AREA FARMERS

JACKSON -- Farmers from the Chaffee and Millersville areas received top awards last week from the Cape Girardeau Soil and Water Conservation District.

David Herbst, manager of Tierney Farms Inc. near Chaffee, was named the Conservation Water Manager of 1995, a new award for the conservation district.

Adrian Wills Jr., who owns and operates a 475-acre cattle farm on Highway BB north of Millersville with his wife, Nadia, was named the Conservation Farmer of 1995.

In announcing Herbst's selection, Joe Hahn, conservation district vice chairman, said the board wanted to also recognize a bottom-land farmer for conservation efforts.

In the past, only the conservation farmer award was given, and that usually went to a farmer who lived in the hill land of the county because erosion control practices could be more easily applied, he said.

Since 1984, Wills, an electrician working full time in St. Louis, has installed these conservation practices on his farm: two ponds for erosion control and livestock water, one grassed waterway and eight grade-stabilization structures for erosion control.

Wills has about 260 acres of his farm in pasture and hay for 70 head of beef cattle. He said most of his land wasn't suited for row crops and he didn't believe in plowing it to erode. He said he felt like a true conservationist in caring for the land and was "very proud" of the recognition.

Herbst irrigates about 800 acres of the 3,600 acres under his management on eight farms in southern Cape Girardeau and northern Scott counties. His operation produces soybeans, corn, wheat and grain sorghum.

Herbst said his goal was to design his irrigation system so one employee could handle up to 1,000 acres. He worked closely with employees of the Soil Conservation Service, now called the Natural Resources Conservation Service, to plan his system.

Herbst has seven furrow-irrigation systems involving 13 fields with associated wells. He used land leveling and crown design for precise water distribution through pipes. He constructed tail ditches with water-control structures and uses intensive management to minimize irrigation water losses.

Keith Admire of Dexter, state irrigation engineer for the National Resource Conservation Service, said his staff worked with Herbst through three growing seasons to establish the irrigation system. Admire said practices developed on Herbst's farms are being used around the state to produce higher yields and lower pumping costs.

David Owen, district conservationist, said because of the planning of Herbst's irrigation system, the wells were the correct sizes and placed in the right places. He said the design and Herbst's implementation of some new techniques has led to greater efficiency and water conservation.