Outstanding Conservationist
2024 Outstanding Conservationist – Mark & Randy Depuydt
Mankato, MN – The Blue Earth County Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD) Board recognized Mark & Randy Depuydt as their 2024 Outstanding Conservationist.
Background: Mark and Randy Depuydt are a father-son duo set out to educate their peers on the benefits of implementing soil health practices. Over the last 2 decades, they’ve implemented both strip-till and cover crops across not only their own farming operation but helped other producers do the same. The Depuydt’s run a corn/soybean operation between St. Clair and Mankato and have always been conscience of their impact for water quality. They were compliant with the Buffer Law years before it ever became law.
In 2009, they were looking for a way to save time and money within their farm operation. Randy wanted to try strip-till, as he’s seen and heard about the benefits in other parts of the state. When asking the Depuydt’s what the biggest challenge farmers face in making these changes on their farm operations, their response was that farmers aren’t certain how deeply involved they want to get into soil health practices. Do you start with just one practice, or do you try to include multiple concepts of soil health? Will only switching to strip-till help outweigh the risk? You get one chance a year to evaluate the benefits of soil health practices and getting over the fear that it may take more than one year of implementation to see a return on investment.
Strip tilling can maintain soil structure by only disturbing a small strip of soil to plant the seed in. It also helps reduce erosion by keeping the rest of the field covered in crop residue. Some other great benefits include improved soil drainage and air flow; allowing the planted strip to warm up and help with quicker germination and plant growth as well as reducing fuel consumption, lessen equipment maintenance and requires less time during planting.
Over the next decade, they continued to improve their craft of strip till and as soil health practices continued to gain in popularity, they discovered there was a high demand for contractors in implementing these practices. So, in 2019, they began their own custom strip billing business and helped other producers convert to strip-till in their area with over 10,000 acres annually.
By day, Randy is a GIS Specialist & Certified Crop Advisor with McPherson Crop Management and has a lot of tools at his disposal. He created a pest management plan that is custom to his farming methods. He utilizes a scouting program to help identify any insects and disease pests. His work at McPherson is centered around agriculture and incorporating best management practices. He recommends certain farming techniques and methods such as fertilizer applications and rates, herbicide use, fungicide timing and different sorts of hybrid/variety recommendations throughout the growing season and off season.
Thanks to the Blue Earth SWCD’s cost share program, they were able to start experimenting with cover crops but keep their financial burden to a minimum. Cover crops help suppress weeds, returns organic matter back to the soil, reduces wind and water erosion and can increase infiltration rates, all the while helping reduce a farming operations input costs.
These and many more reasons are why they’re the Blue Earth Soil and Water Conservation District’s 2024 Outstanding Conservationist of the Year. The Minnesota Association of Soil & Water Conservation Districts (MASWCD) chooses one finalist from each of the eight SWCD Areas across the state. These awards recognize farm families, individuals, conservation organizations, and other groups for their accomplishments in implementing conservation practices and improving Minnesota’s natural resources. Because of their efforts Mark & Randy Depuydt were named one of those eight finalists and were recognized at the 88th MASWCD Annual Convention luncheon on Dec 4th, 2024. Sadly, Mark Depuydt passed away on November 20th, 2024, after a hard-fought battle with cancer. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Depuydt family. other groups for their accomplishments in implementing conservation practices and improving Minnesota’s natural resources.
2024 MASWCD Teacher of the Year Award Nomination – Collin Nienhaus
Mapleton, MN – Collin Nienhaus (Collin NEEN-HOUSE) has been nominated by Blue Earth County Soil & Water Conservation District for the Teacher of the Year Award. Collin teaches a class called Field Ecology for 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students as well as 7th & 9th grade science at Maple River School District.
Upon construction of the new Maple River School, he was able to have one of the storm water ponds constructed deep enough to support a stocked fish population and design an outdoor classroom of sorts. Here is where he teaches his students about fisheries biology, limnology, cover crops, buffer strips and everything in between. By getting the children involved in the outdoor world to increase their knowledge on the natural ecosystems in this area, he’s ensuring the younger generation understands the importance of protecting natural resources by keeping our waters, soils, and wildlife healthy. According to Nienhaus, “My biggest, I guess you’d call, academic interest would be fish, conservation and water quality. So, it was easy for me. I had the background, interest, the passion to see it to fruition.”
Having an outdoor classroom on campus certainly has its perks. It gives the kids real-life hands-on experience learning about topics such as fish and bird identification, setting trap nets and minnow traps, conducting aquatic invertebrate surveys, and studying water quality within the storm water ponds. They learn about the past landscape, how it has been altered, current land use changes and how those changes will affect local wildlife populations, water quality, and the overall health of the soil in this area. He’s also had local farmers, such as Karson and Kameron from KD2 Farms discuss with the kids, the importance of water quality. The City of Mapleton also came to talk with his class about the importance of their water treatment plants and gave them a tour of their treatment ponds.
This project has gained enough momentum that the “Outdoor News” wrote a story on it. By this project being picked up in the paper, another local school in the area took notice and is now adding their own storm water pond with fish to incorporate into their own learning curriculum. The kids have passed their knowledge of natural resources conservation onto other areas of their lives as well through this course. He’s noticed that more of them are now interested in outdoor activities, particularly fishing, since the pond holds fish and is easily accessible. They talk with their parents about the different birds and wildlife they can identify, the importance of pollinators and planting native habitat in their backyards and building wood duck box houses!
Because of his efforts, the Minnesota Association of Soil & Water Conservation Districts (MASWCD) named Collin Nienhaus as the 2024 MASWCD Teacher Award winner. Collin was recognized at the 88th MASWCD Annual Convention luncheon on Dec. 3rd, 2024. The award recognizes a teacher’s outstanding accomplishments with teaching natural resource conservation through hands-on, detailed learning to the students in their area. Congratulations Collin!
Every year the Blue Earth County SWCD chooses to recognize individuals or organizations in the County for outstanding conservation accomplishments through education or project implementation. We want to acknowledge those who help improve Minnesota’s natural resources. Those nominated are honored each year at the Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation District (MASWCD) convention in early December.
Do you know an individual or organization who deserves to be called an Outstanding Conservationist? Please send your nominations to Jerad Bach!