Two Calhoun farms honored for environmental leadership

Beth Henning gives the lion’s share of credit for being honored with a state environmental leadership award to her farm tenants, particularly Rod and Shannan Potts, who rent land owned by Henning and her sisters near Lake City.
“They’ve been on board the whole way,” Henning said of the Pottses. “They are tireless in their efforts.”
She and her sisters, who are the fourth generation in their family to own the land near Lake City, which her maternal grandparents took over farming in 1914, did the easy part of conservation farming, she said. They signed up for federal programs for things like grass waterways, filter strips by drainage tiles, a quail perimeter and a wind break.
“Rod and Shannan are the ones that deserve the credit for the other practices,” Henning said. “They’ve been really great about cover crops. They farm that land organically. They do longer crop rotations.”
Read more in the Aug. 24 edition.