Sickle Farms of St. George has won this year’s Environment Stewardship Award sponsored by RBC Royal Bank and Beef Farmers of Ontario.
The award was presented to Steve and Amanda Sickle during the BFO annual meeting this week in Toronto.
They farm 900 acres, 350 of which they own, and provide custom work for another 500 acres. They pasture 25 cow-calf pairs.
They rotate corn, soybeans, wheat and hay, and almost always include a cover crop to help prevent erosion.
Steve followed his father, Bill, in promoting soil and weater conservation, starting in the 1970s.
They took advantage of incentives offered by the Grand River Conservation Authority, fenced their cattle out of the watercourses and wetlands, installed a solar-powered water bowl, implemented rotational grazing, planted intensive cover crops and intercropping and adopted no-till farming.
Steve said it’s better to have living roots in the soil year-round.
"The forest never dies, so let’s not let the cropland ever die either,” he said.
“It seems like we’ve been leaving the farm in better shape with each generation. The land is what grows the crops, so let’s leave it better than we found it.”
Steve has held leadership roles with the local, regional and provincial Soil and Crop Improvement Associations, the Brant Federation of Agriculture and Brant Cattlemen’s Association. He is also a member of the Ontario Soil Network and a former member of the Brant County Agricultural Advisory Committee.
"Steve is an influencer and displays an infectious enthusiasm for sharing knowledge with others,” said Louise Heyming, supervisor of Conservation Outreach for the Grand River Conservation Authority.
“For more than a decade, he has worked with the GRCA’s Rural Water Quality Program to adopt water and soil best management practices on his farm. Steve has always been an ambassador for improving environmental health; his awareness and concern for the environment are commendable,” she said.
