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Three Elk Mountain farmers honored |
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February 13, 2017 |
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Conservation Farmers of the Year John
Kellogg, Ed Atkins and John Solt with
Boundary Soil Conservation District
chairman Tom Daniel. |
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The Boundary Soil Conservation District had the
pleasure of awarding John Kellogg, Ed Atkins and
John Solt 2016 Conservation Farmer of the Year
awards at a breakfast banquet hosted at the
Kootenai River Inn on February 7.
The three gentlemen accepted the awards on
behalf of Elk Mountain Farms.
It was great to hear that all three men will be
celebrating 30 years of employment with Elk
Mountain Farms this year.
Board Chairman Tom Daniel highlighted on a few
of the reasons BSCD chose them for this award.
Elk Mountain Farm’s diverse agricultural
production is a huge part of the Kootenai
Valley, and soil and water conservation is an
effort that they have continued to improve on
each year.
Elk Mountain Farms has converted to a drip hose
system to irrigate instead of sprinklers to
provide water to their 1,700 acre operation.
Ed Atkins, who is the general manager of Elk
Mountain Farms, made it very clear that
protecting the environment has always been their
goal. They are committed to water conservation
practices and sustainable farming techniques.
Elk Mountain Farms recently set an all-time
safety record for 1,489 consecutive days without
accident. This is a huge accomplishment,
considering they employ 19 full-time employees
and over 200 seasonal employees.
Elk Mountain Farms is the largest Amarillo hop
grower in the world and their 1,700 acre farm
spans over two different locations in the
valley, Backwoods Farm and Tavern Farm.
After the casual breakfast, guests had the
pleasure of listening to the guys and their
wives reminisce about the struggles and triumphs
that the farm has experienced over the years. It
was great to hear them highlight other local
farmers in the valley that have helped them over
the years when times got tough.
Everything from lending machinery, a helping
hand, and as farmers always do, giving their
advice.
Their dedication to farming and conservation is
undeniable and BSCD could not be more proud than
to present them these awards.
Along with the plaques they received, local
businesses made very nice contributions;
everything from gift certificates to shirts and
hats and lots of local goodies to help BSCD put
together some great gift baskets as a thank you
for all of their hard work!
Thank you to those businesses and
Congratulations from BSCD! |
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