Castalia family is winner of statewide conservation award

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Dale and Karen Green, owners of Spring Valley Farms near Castalia in northeast Iowa, have received the 2016 Iowa Conservation Farmer of the Year award from the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation and Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. The Greens have adopted more than 30 stewardship practices on their farm to promote conservation, with a majority of those efforts self-funded and another 14 paid for through cost-share programs offered by the state and federal governments, according to a release. Conservation practices used by the Greens include grassed waterways, cover crops, no-till cultivation, tree-planting and wetlands, as well as contour farming, soil testing, manure management and precision fertilizer applications.  Much of the work is also part of collaborative, research-based efforts designed and installed through the Yellow River Headwaters Water Quality Project and is used as a demonstration project for livestock producers throughout Iowa. The Greens also received the Iowa Farm Environmental Leader Award. The Greens also have a large maple syrup operation that has been in family since 1851.