Conservationists of the year awards go to Trim Pine Farm  & the Genesee County Drain Commissioner 

Hunt Farm (Agricultural Award)

In 1973 Bill graduated from Davison High School and decided to pursue the agricultural field even further. He became less interested in livestock and started to focus his attention on cash crop farming, quality grain storage and effective grain marketing.  As more and more acres were added to the cash crop area of the operation, this left less time to manage the livestock efficiently and eventually the farm turned into the cash crop operation known as Hunt Farms, Inc.

Today, Dad & Mom have both retired from the day to day activity of the operation, but Bill, his wife Glenda and 10 full time employees continue to run the operation which has grown to 10,000 acres raising corn, soybeans and wheat. The operation also operates a small trucking fleet providing services for seed companies, elevators and farmers within Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Canada.

When Bill is not busy with his management responsibilities on the farm, he is very active in other aspects of agriculture.  For many years Bill was the Chairperson on the Genesee County Farm Service Agency County Committee. Due to term limitations he has stepped down from that position. He has served on the Farm Bureau Board of Directors for many years and currently holds the Vice President position, as well as serving on various committees within the organization. He is currently on the Farm Credit Services Stockholder Advisory committee, and serves as an advisor on the Thumb Area Research Education Committee (TARE). In addition to his work with agriculturally focused committees, he currently sits on the Richfield Township Planning Commission.

Bill has always felt that it was extremely important to help educate farmers about anything pertaining to agriculture. In 1994 he founded a small group of farmers that meet monthly at a local restaurant. That group has grown to approximately 30 members and they continue to meet monthly at the same location. The main topic covers the commodities markets, but special speakers are often invited and will present topics such as quality grain storage, crop insurance, and research plots.

Over the last several years Bill has worked with the Michigan State Extension Office as well as Ground Water Stewardship Program to incorporate research plots into the farming operation. Bill feels these types of plots are important to the farmer and agriculture as a whole. 

"The more information we can gain about what we do, the better farmers we can be in our operations and to the land" says Bill.

In a continuing effort to find cost effective, yet productive ways to farm, Bill incorporated the use of dried poultry manure into his operation, thus reducing the use of commercial fertilizers. The farm has also reduced their use of conventional tillage, by incorporating the use of vertical tillage equipment for spring soybean planting, and uses the "no-till" approach on approximately 30% of the soybean acreage they farm.

Hunt Farms hosts an annual field day inviting area farmers and their families to attend informational meetings about agriculture, as well as visit the research plots, before they are harvested.

Bill continues to incorporate new ideas and plans into the operation. Ground was recently broke on the Pesticide Containment Facility on the farm and will be in close proximity to the Dry Fertilizer Storage Containment Facility that was built in 2000. Both projects are part of the Natural Resource Conservation Service program called Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). These containment facilities help to insure the proper storage of fertilizers and pesticides, and would help to prevent soil contamination in the event of a spill or leakage.

"We as farmers need to be respectful of the soil that allows us to raise a crop." said Bill "I believe it is our responsibility as farmers to stay educated and informed on ways we can improve within our own operations so that we can be the best possible stewards of our land now and in the years to come"

Andy House (Non Agricultural Award)

Andy is married to Dana and they have three children; two sons, Cary—27 and Jeramey—19, and a daughter, Andie—14. They now live on a farmstead of about 80 acres, but previously they lived on a smaller 10 acre farm.  On the smaller farm they always liked seeing wildlife.  They kept birdfeeders and waters going.  Andy made lots of birdhouses and hung them all around the farm. He also planted hundreds of trees on that farm, some of which are now over 20 years old.  Andy is amazed when driving by today and remembering back to when he planted them.

At the new farm 70 acres were cropped when they first moved there.  The ground was bare all winter.  Wildlife sightings on the farm were rare at best.  Andy and his family loved their new property, but they missed the wildlife they would see on their old farm.

In the spring of 2007, Andy enrolled in the CREP program.  He currently has 31 acres dedicated to wildlife conservation.  He has planted 2,000 trees and shrubs.  He has 3 acres of cool season grasses and clovers, 3 acres of Switchgrass, and 9 acres of corn planted to leave standing during the winter for wildlife food and cover.  Between the tree seedling rows one will find soybeans, oats, rye, sunflowers, sorgum, millet, and turnips all left for the wildlife.  Andy continues to have 34 acres cropped by a local farmer who mulch tills after the harvest. 

Sightings of wildlife are now the norm, hardly a day goes by without hearing or seeing something.  Andy is excited to see their efforts grow and mature in the years to come.