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IPPA announces first-ever Environmental Steward Award winnerIowa Most Iowa pork producers take great pride in doing whatever they can to help protect our natural resources. One northwest Iowa hog farmer and his wife have been recognized for their efforts and are being presented with the Iowa Pork Producers Association's first-ever Environmental Steward Award. Mike and Becky Nothem from Remsen in Plymouth County will receive the award for 2007 at the Iowa Pork Congress Banquet in Des Moines tonight. The award was established last year by the IPPA Environmental Committee to recognize pork producers who go above and beyond in environmental stewardship. The selection committee judged nominations on the producer's manure management, soil and water conservation practices, air quality strategies, wildlife habitat management, and environmental management innovations. The Plymouth County Pork Producers nominated the Nothems for the award. They own and operate six 1,100 head finishing barns and pay yardage for finishing swine at other local facilities. In addition to raising pigs, the Nothems feed around 550 head of Holstein dairy replacement heifers. They also farm 340 acres of corn and soybeans. The Nothems are environmentally conscientious and have a sound manure management plan with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. All manure is injected from the swine facilities and the cattle manure is scraped into an outside concrete bunker. The Nothems have agreements with neighboring farmers to haul and inject the surplus liquid manure to their farms. Mike attends confinement site manure applicator training each year to keep up-to-date with any new information. The Nothem's practice conservation tillage. Waterways are maintained and the farm is kept clean. Areas around the hog barns are regularly mowed and weeded during the summer. The perimeter of the barns are rocked to help reduce weeds and rodents. The Nothem farmstead is surrounded by evergreen, oak and maple trees. Each year, they purchase 300 to 500 bare root trees and shrubs from the county extension service and work at building windbreak hedges around the swine buildings, as well as a nature reserve they developed five years ago that is called Nothem Park. This area has a small creek running through it, and many bushes and trees. Their goal in developing the nature reserve is to help control erosion and provide food and sanctuary for wildlife. The Nothems openly communicate with their neighbors and have even teamed up with neighbors on new ideas for landscaping and upkeep of yards and ditches. The Nothems also support youth in agriculture by sponsoring college scholarships for two graduating seniors at Marcus Meriden-Cleghorn Community School each year who must continue their education in farm management, veterinary medicine or diesel mechanics. The Nothems also encourage the students to return to the local area to live and work after college graduation. The selection committee consists of IPPA staff and committee members, a pork producer, an Iowa State University Extension representative and an outside environmental agency representative. The Nothems will represent Iowa in the National Pork Board's 2008 national Environmental Steward Award competition. 2/4/08 Date: 1/30/08
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