River Friendly Farmer Award goes to Amy Jo Farmer

Jenny Blake, Conservation Technician/Outreach Assistant

​Since 1999, key conservation and agricultural organizations have sponsored the River Friendly Farmer (RFF) Program. The statewide initiative recognizes farmers, who through good production management practices help keep Indiana’s rivers, lakes, and streams clean.
Amy Jo Farmer’s farm produces certified organic alfalfa-grass-hay and produce, Farmer’s Gold honey and beeswax products, eggs, goat’s milk, and pork in the Upper White River Watershed. Her practices of native plantings, a grass waterway, and filter strips have stabilized erosion control and improved soil health and structure on her farm. The benefits of her conservation practices include nutrient and sediment run-off barriers, a reduction in soil erosion, monarch butterfly and native bee habitat, and a sustainable drainage system for the nearby regulated county drain and Morse Reservoir. She has implemented a Conservation Resource Program (CRP) that enabled her to plant a variety of beneficial native grasses and flowers, in addition to an Environmental Quality and Incentive Program (EQUIP) by way of a high tunnel.  Amy Jo is currently an Associate Board Member here at  Hamilton County SWCD, an Indiana Master Naturalist in-training, and hosts Women4theLand conservation learning circles.

Learn more about the River Friendly Farmer award here.