CO Corn Farm Stewardship Award Winners

Earlier this month, two Northeast Colorado farmers were honored by the two Colorado Corn organizations, for their efforts in improving their farms' efficiency and enhancing air, soil and water quality.

The selection committee awarded Casey Kropp of Holyoke for the Farm Steward of the Year — Innovator Award. Colorado Corn Communications Director Eric Brown shares

Brown: "Casey really went out of his way to work with USDA's NRCS office to address soil health issues he was working with out there. Was awarded some grant dollars to convert 100 percent of his operation from conventional to strip tillage. And then he just kept going with utilizing soil moisture probes and all of the new yield mapping that you can do — irrigation scheduling. Just doing things and just going above and beyond to improve and and create a year-round environment for soil microbial life and doing incredible things with cover crops."

Yuma County's Bryon Weathers received the Farm Steward of the Year — Excellence in Conservation Award. Brown continues

Brown: "You talk about someone who at every turn of technology and new production methods has been a early adaptor of the technologies out there: GPS, soil sampling, variable rate seeding, micro-nutrient feeding, no-till, strip-till, cover crops. Looking at his application — there wasn't enough room for him to list the things he had done over the years."

Both of these award winners will represent Colorado and will be forwarded to the National Corn Growers Association Good Steward Recognition.