Rock Valley Farm Wins Second Place in

WV Conservation Farm of the Year Competition

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The Northern Panhandle Conservation District is home to this year’s second place winner of the West Virginia Conservation Farm of the Year contest. Owned and operated by Bill and Janet Childers, along with their daughter Amy and son-in-law Scott Wade, the Rock Valley Farm exemplifies the dedicated use of conservation management practices to protect the soil and water.

Located in Ohio County, Rock Valley Farm is one of the oldest farms in the area, with the Childers’ being the sixth generation of the family to own and operate the farm.

West Virginia Commissioner of Agriculture Gus R. Douglass presented the Childers family with an award plaque and a $500 check, on Oct. 30 at the 2008 WV Conservation Partnership Conference Awards Banquet.

The Rock Valley Farm, is located near Wheeling, and is a 150-acre grassland farm grazing 30 sheep, 47 lambs and 34 cow-calf pairs. Exercising great care for the land and water, the Childers’ have made strong efforts in implementing conservation practices. These practices include six spring developments with troughs, diversion ditches and nutrient management. Additionally, exclusion fencing was installed to protect the woodlands and areas sensitive to slippage and erosion.

With a conservation plan that includes timber stand improvement, the Childers family carefully manages their woodland as the important resource that it is. Grapevines are cut and trees are culled periodically, with the family using the cuttings for fuel to heat their homes. Brush control methods comprehensively include livestock management, and mechanical and chemical control.

In 2007 the Childers’ were the recipients of the West Virginia Farming Heritage Award from the West Virginia Farm Bureau. This award is given to individuals who have shown a commitment to a rural and agricultural lifestyle.

Commissioner Douglass awarded the first place plaque and a $750 check to Carla Kitchen who owns and operates Kitchens Orchard in Berkeley County. Kitchen also won a gift certificate for 200 hours or four months use of a 6000 series John Deere Tractor from Middletown Tractor Sales in Fairmont. C. Richard Daniel M.D., owner and operator of the Daniel Vineyard in Raleigh County took third place for which he received a plaque and a $250 check.

The West Virginia Conservation Farm of the year competition occurred successively on four levels: county, conservation district, area and state. The judges for the West Virginia Conservation Farm of the Year competition were representatives of the following agencies:

¨                WV Association of Conservation Districts;

¨                WV Conservation Agency

¨                WV Department of Environmental Protection

¨                WV Department of Agriculture

¨                WV Division of Forestry

¨                WVU Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences;

¨                WVU Extension Services;

¨                USDA Farm Service Agency; and

¨                USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service