Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, June 16, 2005

Shown accepting the state and regional conservation stewardship awards for Faris Farms are, front row, from left: Elizabeth Faris, Lee Faris, Jennifer Byrd and Lyle Faris. Second row, from left: Rodney Faris

FARIS Farms of Mount Ayr is the National Cattlemen's Beef Association Region III winner of the 2005 Enviromental Stewardship Award.

FARIS Farms is one of seven regional winners named nationwide for the prestigious honor announced June 22 at the Iowa Cattlemen's Association summer conference and trade show.

Jim McAdams, 2005 NCBA president, presented the award to Lee FARIS during the membership awards luncheon.

FARIS Farms was selected as the ICA'S 2005 environmental stewardship award honorees in May. FARIS and his family farm near Mount Ayr.

FARIS Farms is a commercial cow-calf and backgrounding operation that is based on a 190-head crossbred cow herd. The operation includes row crops, permanent pastures and hay ground. The family members who actively farm now are Lee FARIS, his son and daughter-in-law, Rodney and Elizabeth FARIS, and Lee's brother, Lyle FARIS, all of Mount Ayr.

The FARIS family received the awards for Iowa and Regional III awards for the many practices they utilize to protect their soil and water resources. Row crops are planted to the contour of hills and floodplains using minimum tillage or no-till methods. Highly-erodible land is kept in alfalfa hay or well-managed pastures which are interseeded with legumes or grasses and rotationally grazed by the cow herd.

Lee FARIS has had tile and teraces built on his land every year since the mid-1970s. Through the years, the FARISES hae installed many conservation measures such as building 15 ponds, planting wildlife habitat areas, reshaping and replanting waterways and establishing accessible watering area for their cow herds that protect the soil and water resources of the farms. They have also helped in wildlife re-establishment programs for the barn owl and prairie chicken.

The FARIS family was chosen for the ICA and NCBA Region II honors as a result of the quality care they give their farmland in southern Iowa and their leadership in conservation efforts.

Lee FARIS has served for many years in [a] leadership position of conservation agencies and stewardship projects. He was appointed to the Iowa State Soil Conservation Committee and the National Resources Conservation Service State Technical Committee.

He was a charter member of the Souther Iowa Forage and Livestock Committee. The group established the Adams County Conservation Reserve Program Farm, a first in the national project to demonstrate alternatives such as rotational grazing to row crop production on highly-erodible, marginal land.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, November of 2012