SWCD Awards Lambright, Groosbeck
Published: Friday, March 22, 2024
Stephen Lambright of Topeka in LaGrange County and Tim Groosbeck of Angola in Steuben County were honored with the River Friendly Farmer award by each of their respective counties at the joint Soil Water Conservation District meet-ing last Wednesday in Hudson.
Lambright and his family operate an organic, rotational grazing dairy farm on the western outskirts of the Emma. In the last 15 years, the Lambrights have cooperated with the LaGrange SWCD and its local grant programs to install hundreds of feet of exclusion fence, has developed and instituted a comprehen-sive nutrient management program for the farm, stabilized many feet of streambank along the main branch of the Little Elkhart River, installed a limited access stream crossing and planted vegetated filter strips along both sides of the waterway.
"Steve and his son have maintained all these conservation practices as needed and have greatly improved water quality in their part of their sub watershed," Monroe Raber, LaGrange SWCD board member said. "The Lambright family truly reflects what being a River Friendly Farmer is all about."
Groosbeck owns and operates approximately 675 acres of farmland in Steuben County. He rais-es corn, soybeans, hay, rye and wheat. The fields are located among several large and small lake systems that are a significant economic base for the region, including Lake Arrowhead and West Otter Lake. was one of the early pio-neers of conservation farming in Steuben County—being one of the first individuals to purchase notill equip-ment and begin notill farming in 1981-82.
He also experimented with planting cover crops in the late 1980s and 1990s and has been implementing them on a more regular basis since 2018. The primary conservation practices he us-es in his operation include notill, cover crops, grassed waterways, nutrient management and soil sampling. Groosbeck also serves as the SWCD associate supervisor in Steuben County and has been active in this role since 1996.
The two SWCDs also held their annual elections, with LaGrange County SWCD electing Aaron Fugate of LaGrange to the position of SWCD supervisor.
Fugate currently works as the LaGrange County highway super-intendent. In his role there, he has realized the potential impact the highway department has on the soil and water quality. He has worked in the Highway Department for 10 years and is the father of three children, with one grand-child.
Craig Holman of Angola ran unopposed for the position of Steuben SWCD supervisor. He has worked as a farm manager throughout his career, implementing notill, minimum tillage and variable rate fertilizer application technology on the acres he has farmed. Holman has also served as the SWCD supervisor since 2012, held the position of chairman from 2019-21, and has been active with Purdue Extension and various agricultural youth pro-grams.
Appointed positions went to Beth Williams of Hamilton, who took the position of Steuben SWCD board supervisor, and Ron Vaughn of Wolcottville, the new LaGrange SWCD board supervisor.
Other awards were presented to Gary Myers of Howe, Robert Cart of LaGrange and Tim Saggars of Angola in honor of years of service, and to Sandra Hoffarth of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, who received the Special Conservation Award from the LaGrange SWCD.
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