Pat Karst (left) and Philip Karst, a father-son farming team from Huntington County, received one of five state Conservation Farmer of the Year awards at the Indiana Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts annual conference, held Jan. 10-12. Photo provided.

Philip Karst and Pat Karst, a father-son farming team from Huntington County, received one of five state Conservation Farmer of the Year awards at the Indiana Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts annual conference, held Jan. 10-12 in Indianapolis.

The Karsts' operation includes corn, soybeans, popcorn and wheat. They utilize no-till farming, nutrient and pest management, field borders and cover crops in their grain operation. The farm had areas of poor drainage with some erosion problems near the open ditches when the younger Karst started farming.

Before they started planting cover crops on all their acres, they planted wheat after harvest in areas that were prone to erosion.

As land has been purchased, the father-son team has installed tile, planted filter strips along the open ditches and placed field borders around the woods.
As a farm manager for Halderman Farm Management Services, Pat Karst manages several thousand acres in central Indiana. Through this capacity he has had several opportunities to utilize soil conservation practices on various farms.

Pat Karst has enrolled whole farms into CRP, installed filter strips along ditches, installed waterways and subsurface drainage and planted trees. He has used this position to counsel clients, tenants and co-workers regarding soil conservation.

"We are merely stewards of the soil while we are here," Pat Karst says.

The Karsts earned Huntington County Conservation Farmer of the Year honors last year from the Huntington County soil and Water Conservation District.

Other state winners were Tom Menkedick, Decatur County; Norman Schue, Dubois County; Carey McKibben, LaGrange County; and Chuck Shelby, Tippecanoe County.