Farmer Champion Highlight: Larry Engel

Larry Engel, Farmer Champion in Rat River Watershed

On March 25th, 2022 Shelia and Emily from Winnebago County Land and Water Conservation Department met with one of our new Farmer Champions, Larry Engel from Engelwood Farms, to learn about the history of the farm along with expectations for the future. Larry is one of three farmers participating in our “Increase Adoption of Soil Health Conservation Systems in the Rat River Watershed” project. He will be implementing cover crops and no-tillage practices for the next three years.

A generational, family farm

Larry said that his farm was originally founded in 1856 and has been in the family since. Today the farm is run by Larry and his brother Gary; the fifth generation of their family to run the operation. When going deeper into the conversation about the history of the farm Larry stated, “The farm started out at 80 acres to begin with, unless it was 120 acres, there was an additional 40 that I am unsure if it was a part of the original homestead or not. We have close to 530 crop acres, with what we own and rent currently, right now we rent close to 130 acres.”

Larry was then asked about what type of tillage he practices and what he had practiced in the past. He told Emily and Sheila that he used a moldboard plow all the way up until 2005. After that he purchased a DMI ripper (a type of tiller) and has been using that ever since.

They then moved on to questions relating to the future of the farm and what new practices he will partake in. They also asked about his expectations of trying conservation practices. Larry will be pursing cover crops and no-till on 33.5 acres of his farm. He mentioned that he has never officially participated in cover crops in the past. When asked if he has any cover crops in mind to plant he replied, “I guess the basics are going to be tillage radishes in there for sure and clover, I’m thinking with the nitrogen fertilizers being as expensive as they are, that clover will be a big part of the cover crops going forward.”

He has done a little practicing of no-till with his planter that they had just adapted for the practice. Lastly Larry was asked what changes he anticipates seeing on the acres with cover crops and no till, to which he responded with, “I am expecting to see a little less water standing, this is at least what I am hoping to see, if I see that then I will know that it is working effectively. I think it has hurt us the last couple years with being as wet as it has been, the crops have not been growing as they should and because of the crops not growing as they should we have probably lost a bit of organic matter.”

This ended the interview with Larry, which gave a brief history of the farm along with its practices and what Larry is expecting to see with the changes he is putting into play.

Learn about the other two Farmer Champions in the Rat River Watershed on the project webpage.

Article content and photo submitted by Emily Dufeck, Watershed Specialist at Winnebago County LWCD
This project is funded by a Great Lakes Commission GLSNRP grant