Mike Trom Family Farm named Dodge County’s 2023 Conservationist of the Year

Dodge Soil and Water Conservation District has named the Mike Trom Family Farm as its 2023 Conservationist of the Year.

As with many farmers, Mike grew up farming with his family, and continued until he went to South Dakota State University to study engineering. Mike came back to the family farm in 2002, helping out when and where he could. He started renting fields and operating on his own in 2007, eventually turning to farming full time in 2013.

Mike currently operates around 1,500 acres of a corn and soybean rotation, with about 400 of those acres farmed as organic. His entire operation is custom strip-tilled, and side-dresses his nitrogen applications, while custom strip-tilling an additional 2,500 acres for his neighbors.

Mike is not only a conservation minded landowner, but a conservation minded renter as well. He has worked with his landlord that installed two saturated buffers allowing for the heavily tiled land to drain and infiltrate into the ground near the drainage ditch, removing many of the nitrates in the tile water before eventually seeping into the ditch. Mike enjoys being able to control the drainage on those fields in times of drought.

He leaves as much crop residue on the ground as he can to help suppress weeds and protect the land from wind, and with the very flat land in the area, has also installed field and farmstead windbreaks to help prevent wind erosion and energy loss. To prevent erosion from runoff, he has added extra wide filter strips along streams and ditches, and placed additional buffers around open tile inlets, and side inlets. Mike continues to improve the conservation on acres he operates by using cover crops, and is working with his agronomist and chemical program to maximize the benefits of using cover crops.

Mike says he hates seeing black dirt where there should be white snow along the roads, and is actively trying to keep as much soil in his fields as possible. He realizes that farmers only get so many growing seasons to grow a crop and make a living, but we can’t be afraid to take the opportunity to try something new that can not only improve the way we farm, but also improve the environment around us, he says.

Join the Dodge County SWCD in congratulating the Mike Trom Family Farm as the Dodge Soil and Water Conservation District’s 2023 Conservationist of the year!