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Wisconsin farmer wins National Conservation Legacy Award

A northwestern Wisconsin farmer is the recipient of the 2017 National Conservation Legacy Award.   Andy Bensend from Dallas, Wisconsin was honored during the annual American Soybean Association Awards Banquet at Commodity Classic in San Antonio, Texas.

Bensend tells Brownfield he had to figure out how to succeed on the farm during the farm crisis of the 1980’s.  “I began farming with a six-row planter, a sprayer, and a tractor and that was the extent of my farm machinery, and so with those modest beginnings, we began to see changes happen on those early acres and we just kept building on that and building on that, and through the years, we’ve stuck with that model of trying to reduce tillage at every turn and try to focus on cover crops.”

Bensend says he was inspired by his grandfather, and now works with other area farmers to incorporate conservation practices.  Bensend strives to have an active cover crop on every acre at all times.

The Conservation Legacy Award program is co-sponsored nationally by BASF, Monsanto, Corn & Soybean Digest magazine, the United Soybean Board & Soybean Checkoff and Valent.  You can see the American Soybean Association’s video about Bensend’s operation on YouTube here.

Brownfield’s Nicole Heslip talked to Andy Bensend at the 2017 Commodity Classic.