The Winner of the 2023 Conservation Farm Award was announced at the Essex Soil & Crop Improvement Association (ESCIA) Annual Meeting on Thursday, December 7, 2023.

The award is presented each year to the farming operation which best display’s conservation minded farming practices from those nominated. The farms are graded on tillage practices, crop rotation, chemical use and storage, knowledge of fertility programs, Best Management Practices and overall farm maintenance.

The recipient is determined by a committee of Directors from the Essex Soil & Crop Improvement Association. This year the recipient of the Conservation Farm Award is Clayton Armstrong and Susan Iatonna.

Clayton Armstrong and Susan Iatonna have established many conservation practices on their fields over the years. Their farming practices include minimum till and no-till cropping; precision soil sampling; variable rate fertilizer application; water and sediment control structures and rock chutes to reduce soil erosion. They also use buffer strips along water courses to help improve water quality in their region.

Clayton and Susan, together with Clayton’s father in years past, have planted hundreds of white cedar trees in windbreaks on many of their farms in the Deerbrook area. They have constructed solar panels on their farm in an effort to become net zero energy users.

Clayton and Susan have participated in the Canada-Ontario Environmental Farm Plan program, and the Essex Region Conservation Authority’s Clean Water ~ Green spaces program. They have used these programs to implement many of the Best Management Practices on their farms in an effort to become ‘good stewards of the land for the next generations’.

Congratulations to Clayton Armstrong and Susan Iatonna and keep up the fine work!

The Essex Conservation Farm Award is sponsored annually by the Essex Soil & Crop Improvement Association, and the Essex Region Conservation Authority.

Nominations for the 2024 Conservation Farm Award are being accepted from now until August 28, 2024 with the winner to be announced at the ESCIA Annual Meeting next December. For more information on how to nominate an individual contact escia2023@gmail.com.