Now to hilly southwest Wisconsin, where Michael E. Berg received the prestigious Leopold Conservation Award for his long-term commitment to soil health practices.
The Bergs do everything they can to prevent their limited topsoil from reaching the flood-prone Pecatonica River, which weaves through their 540 acres of cropland. The family’s dedication to conservation ag all started with Michael’s father, Byron Berg, who installed contour strips to prevent erosion in 1952 and always told his kids, “We don’t really own the land. We’re just taking care of it for the next generation.”
The biggest part of his life was installing good conservation knowledge and benefits for this farm and to make sure that his son and daughters knew conservation was important.
“We grow alfalfa grass; we just started growing fescue on the bottoms next to the Pecatonica River. We also grow corn and soybeans. The corn is for our steers. We’ve installed terraces along our row crop lands on parts of the farm and waterways because lots of places maybe get 6 inches of rain in a year, we might get 6 inches in a day and we can’t afford to lose a half inch, let alone any soil. That’s why we try to make sure we have no-till planting and/or grass and alfalfa on these hills, so we have near zero soil erosion.”
Berg is the founder of the Pecatonica Pride Watershed Association, bringing together outdoors enthusiasts, farmers and landowners to improve the river and inspire others to embrace conservation practices.
Watch the full Video of this episode of Conservation Ag Update.
