Conservation Pays in Missouri

The Leopold Conservation Award recognizes extraordinary achievement in voluntary conservation, inspires other landowners through their example, and helps the general public understand the vital role private landowners can and do play in conservation success.

In Missouri, the award recipient receives an Aldo Leopold crystal and $10,000.

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2021 Missouri Leopold Conservation Award

Application Deadline: Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Access the Application

To nominate yourself or an individual, applicants must submit an application regarding their operation's conversation practices and ethics, in addition to three letters of recommendation. Click below to access the application.

Submit Application

Submit the application at the link below or mail it to Missouri Farmers Care, c/o Kari Asbury, 19 Kipling Way #19A, Columbia, MO 65201.

Applicants must be submitted or postmarked by June 30, 2021, at 11:59 p.m.

Questions

If you have any questions regarding the application or award, please contact Kari Asbury, MFC Outreach Coordinator, at kari@mofarmerscare.com.

 

Missouri Leopold Conservation Award Recipients

Joshlin and Addie Yoder of Leonard in Shelby County

Joshlin and Addie Yoder of Leonard, Missouri, located in Shelby County have been selected as the recipients of the 2020 Missouri Leopold Conservation Award®.

In 2008, Joshlin and Addie returned to the Yoder family farm near Leonard. Early on a decision was made to invest in soil health ensuring viable and productive land could be passed down to future generations.

View Application: Click Here

2019
Brinker Farms received the 2006 National Pork Industry Environmental Steward Award. Today Brinker is an owner of Harrison Creek Farm. The hog farm is home to 2,800 sows, utilizes no-till practices, and Brinker plants cereal rye as a cover crop for soil health and water infiltration. Six acres of corn, soybeans, milo and sunflowers are planted as food plots for wildlife. Undesirable trees were cleared from 200 acres of the farm to allow valuable tree species to flourish.

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2018
At Scherder Farms, John and Sandy Scherder raise beef cattle, corn, soybeans, wheat and alfalfa. Cover crops are grown to reduce soil erosion, improve soil health, provide cattle feed, and provide wildlife habitat. They have used no-till and conservation till practices on their fields since the 1990s. They have established more than 150 acres of field borders into habitat for quail. The Scherders were active in forming a farmer-led watershed group to preserve Peno Creek by encouraging other farms to adopt conservation practices.

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2017
Matt and Kate Lambert of Uptown Farms were announced as the inaugural recipients of the Missouri Leopold Conservation Award.® The Lamberts' farm consists of 2,000 acres of row crop and hay production, commercial Red Angus cattle and a small flock of Hampshire and Dorper sheep. The Lamberts have transitioned their farm to completely no-till, and they use cover crops to enhance soil health while minimizing soil erosion and run-off.

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Missouri Leopold Conservation Award made possible thanks to:

2021 LCA Award Sponsors

Missouri Cattlemen’s Association, Missouri Corn Merchandising Council, MFA, Inc., Missouri Fertilizer Control Board, Missouri Department of Conservation, Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives, Missouri Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, The Nature Conservancy in Missouri, McDonald’s and the Missouri Soil and Water Conservation Program.