MORROW
Heppner, Oregon 97836
P O Box 127
Phone (503) 676-5452
Golden Anniversary
Annual Report
h supplement to the Heppner Gazette-Times, published
Drake conservation farm
of the year for 1991
L-R: Carley, Amy, Kevin and Doug Drake
The 1991 Conservation Farm of
the Year in Morrow County is the
Douglas and Carley Drake farm in
Sand Hollow Tney farm 1250 acres
of owned land and 1000 acres of land
leased from Carley’s father, Roland
Bergstrom. It is in a wheat/fallow
rotation, with some barley and a few
cattle "to keep things interesting,”
sayd Doug
Doug is the third generation Drake
on his farm. His grandfather moved
to the Sand Hollow ranch in 1927,
and purchased it in 1952. Some of
the structures, such as the diversion
ditches, were designed and built by
Doug’s father.
In 1986 Dcug and Carley began to
buy the farm from his mother and to
lease land from his father-in-law
Since then he has built new terraces,
planted grass waterways, renovated
streambanks started new practices
designed to conserve moisture and
soil, and participated in special
projects.
In Sand Hollow, in addition to the
20,000 feet of old, graded terraces
that were built by his father and
grandfather, he installed 24,300 feet
of new level terraces. He also com
pleted 3.2 miles of streambank im
provement, to include shaping and
seeding to grass, under a long term
agreement with ASCS. In addition
to this, Doug improved a lot of dit
ches on his own.
In Gooseberry there were 12,000
feet of old, graded and level terraces
and he added 51,600 feet of new,
leve terraces, with Roland’s
cooperation. He seeded a half mile
of streambank He participated in the
Dry Fork watershed project, a
special project requiring Doug to
subsoil, reduce tillage, build terraces
and manage residue more stringent
ly than on the rest of the farm.
Between the two places there is
1100 acres of land enrolled in the
Conservation Reserve Program.
Doug built his own subsoiler, and
has used it extensively on much of
his farmland to good effect
Doug’s interest in conservation
has also extended to a cooperative
study with the Oregon State Univer
sity Extension Service. Donating 30
acres of land for the purpose, the
study looks at the differences bet
ween chemical and conventional
fallow, and between annual cropp
ing and crop/fallow rotations
Doug has been a member of the
Morrow County Agricultural
Stabilization and Conservation Com
mittee (ASC County Committee) for
nine years. He is conservation mind
ed and believes in leaving the soil in
at least as good condition as he found
it. His conservation actions since he
began managing his farm proves this
out “Doug and Carley are excellent
representatives of conservation in
Morrow County, and deserve the
honor of Conservation Farm of the
Year," said Lundin.
December 31, 1991
Chairman urges compliance
By Joe Rietmann, Morrow Soil &
Water Conservation District
Chairman
Morrow County Soil and Water
Conservation District urges all pro
ducers with highly erodible farm
land to review their farm plans to
assure compliance and protect farm
program eligibility.
Morrow County’s farm plans for
HWL were developed using an
Alternative conservation System
which is based on what was con
sidered to be best management prac
tices used in our area. Morrow
SWCD was and is still involved in
the process of determining best
management practices for our
county.
Under most conditions producers
in our county should have no trou
ble living up to the requirements of
their farm plans, but it is very im
portant that you the producer unders
land what your plan calls for and
what will happen to your farm pro
gram payments if you are found to
be out of compliance.
It is important to remember that
even a 2,000 acre farm with two
acres of HEL land could lose all
farm program benenfits if those two
acres are found to be out of com
pliance with their farm plan
Many of the farm plans written for
Morrow County specify a percen
tage of cover (residue) to be left on
the ground surface after seeding. It
is important to learn what your
farm’s required percentage cover
looks like The SCS will be happy
to come out to your farm and help
you in this process.
If your HEL farm land produced
an average yield in the preceding
crop year and you have followed the
procedure of conservation tillage
referred to in your farm plan, there
should be no problem meeting the
percentage cover required in your
plan.
If your HEL farm land did not
produce an average crop it is very
important to notify the SCS and
work with them in determining what
course of action should be taken.
The current SCS policy for the
State of Oregon is. in the case of a
crop failure or other conditions
beyond the producers control
(drought, hail, insects) to allow a
variance from your HEL farm plan
for the year following the failure
The determination of what con
stitutes a failure currently is made by
the SCS State Conservationist Mor
row SWCD is making an effort to
have this determination done local
ly by your conservation district or
written into your farm plan, I E. a
percentage of your farms average
yield.
Some farm plans for HEL include
a conservation cropping sequence. In
reviewing your plan, check to be
sure that what your plan is calling for
is actually what is taking place on
your farm. In most cases your plan
can be modified to show the correct
cropping sequence.
Your HEL farm plan may include
various other requirements that need
to be fully understood
As a Conservation District Board
we would like to urge all farmers to
conserve soil and water and ap
preciate the role that SCS has played
in providing assistance to Morrow
County fanners for more than 50
years.
The SCS staff in Morrow County
and your SWCD board hopes to be
able to avoid future problems with
conservation compliance by bringing
the details of your conservation plans
to your attention now.
As Chairman of the Morrow
SWCD Board 1 would urge you to
remember that the SCS role in Mor
row County has changed from st net
ly assisting farmers in their conser
vation efforts to include determining
your farms compliance with your
government mandated HEL farm
plan