Conservation moving into fourth generation

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN DON RATZLAFF
Gerald Jost believes that if a farm family takes care of the land, the land will take care of the farm family-for as long as the family wants to farm it.

Jost is at least the third generation in his lineage to till the soil southwest of Hillsboro; about a dozen years ago, his oldest son, Doyle, formally joined the 1,100-acre operation as the fourth generation.

For the work he has done to care for the land during his 40 years of farming, Jost has been named the winner of a “Banker Award” for 2002 by the Marion County Soil Conservation office.

“We’ve pretty well worked at it through the years,” Jost said. “It’s been an ongoing process. It isn’t something we did here last year. It seems that as we took on some ground, it was kind of a priority for me to get it in conservation shape.

“That’s the only way I can farm,” he added. “I didn’t like to farm ditches and gullies and washed-out ground. I just factored in (the cost), that it was a part of it. I didn’t expand until we got that under control.”

Through the years, Jost has developed about 31 acres of waterways, nearly 31,500 feet of terraces, 1,014 feet of diversion terraces and three concrete structures. He also tries to leave residue on the land by using minimum tillage as much as possible.

“Conservation kind of worked into our diversified farm operation here,” said Jost. He and Doyle continue a small dairy operation in addition to raising crops.

“The waterways weren’t a burden to us because we need the feed for the growing cattle,” he said. “It just kind of all fit together.

“In the later years, there was pressure brought to bear on highly erodible ground. You didn’t have much choice in the matter. If you wanted government payments, you better get the highly erodible ground under conservation practices.”

Beyond the direct economic benefits, though, Jost said simply conserving the soil has been his primary motivation for being involved.

“When you’ve got four generations going, our livelihood kind of depends on it,” Jost said. “Lord willing, maybe there will be another generation or two.”

The investment has been worth it, even beyond financial considerations.

“Whenever the heavy rains come, a person just sleeps a little better at night when he feels things are halfway under control,” Jost said.

To be selected for a conservation award is gratifying in the sense that it recognizes the commitment of many farmers over the years to care for the earth, Jost said.

“I guess I’d like to say that farmers were the original environmentalists,” Jost said. “We practiced environmentalism long before it got to be the politically correct thing to do. We worked at being environmentally good.

“I guess it’s part of Christian stewardship to maintain the earth God created as much as we can.”

“(The award) makes a person feel that we are recognized as being environmentalists and caretakers of the soil,” he added. “The bankers realize it and appreciate it, the hunters and wildlife enthusiasts do, too-it just kind of goes down the line.”

Jost said a commitment to soil conservation already is rooted in his son.

“Doyle probably doesn’t get enough recognition out of this,” Jost said. “He’s an important part of it. As the young generation coming on, he has an interest in that, too.”

Father-and-son’s next frontier may be no-till farming.

“We don’t do a lot of no-till at this point,” Jost said. “We do some, where it fits the program.

“Hopefully we can work into it more as time goes on. We’re trying to lean that way, but maybe we’re a little slower than what we should be. But it takes a whole change of philosophy and lineup of equipment. You don’t want to jump into something until you know it’s what you want to do.”

Even if they go heavily into no-till, Jost said their terraces and waterways will still benefit the operation.

“Even with no-till, I think you still need the terraces,” he said. “I won’t be sorry we have them, from what I’ve seen of no-till. There’s still some ditch erosion. Water is still going to move, it cuts a path and will keep doing it.

“These practices aren’t for naught, even if no-till comes around.”

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