Orange County Soil & Water Conservation District

06/05/2026

Today's Friday Field Day post is a quiz.

Is 6 inches of bank run with fabric enough to hold up triaxle traffic?

The winning answer gets a 5- gallon bucket of bank run, choose boney or sandy.

05/27/2026

In cooperation with Cornell Cooperative Extension we will be assisting farms with and monitoring various no-till planting techniques. One of the more innovative techniques is to roll/crimp winter rye cover crop either before or after planting the target crop. We will have trials with corn, soybeans and pumpkins. We are already learning that the effectiveness of the roller crimper can be quite variable depending on multiple factors.

05/21/2026

We thought this roller/crimper was coming from I&J, but apparently it came from I kea. Luckily, our assembly team, Kristen, Mike and Ron, were up to the task. Let's roll some Rye!

05/19/2026

First time out with new Kinze 3005 No-till planter. Soil and Water Director Paul Ruszkiewicz substitutes his County Legislator hat for farm hat today. Row cleaners appear to be doing a good job sweeping heavy trash from last year's corn crop. This is black dirt, we'll see how she does when we get to good ole' Orange County upland soils.

04/22/2026

Following up on her appearance at the Hudson Valley Envirothon last week, Office Manager Emily continues to rock the District's Outreach and Education efforts at the SUNY Orange Earth Day event.

04/17/2026

The District attended the Hudson Valley Regional Envirothon today at Croton Point Park in Croton-on-Hudson, NY. We supported Northern Academy of the Arts, which is in Middletown, and worked with the Academy’s teacher Anh Cao and his students. Given that they are the only school from Orange County participating, they will advance to the State Envirothon competition on May 27th & 28th at SUNY Cortland. The District looks forward to participating in future Envirothon competitions and recruiting more schools from the County to attend. Congrats to all the students from the fourteen schools that participated in this year’s event.

04/07/2026

Who doesn't love a new toy? We were excited to take delivery of a new Kinze corn planter today, and will be interested to see how it stacks up against the Green ones. Thanks to Erik at Cornell Cooperative Extension for leading the writing of the Conservation Innovations Grant that secured the funding. The Kinze will be used as part of a Conservation Tillage research and demonstration project. Now we are waiting for a 15 foot folding roller/crimper to be delivered that will also be used in the Project. More toys! Thanks to the O'Dell farm for helping to receive the planter and check it over.

01/31/2026

Orange County Soil and Water would like to take this opportunity, with the timing being for no particular reason, to recognize the many conservation practices Fort Hill Farm, AKA Phil Johnson, has cooperated with us to install over the years. They are too numerous to list, but include an innovative constructed wetlands system far more ambitious than any regulations required.
And to recognize the help he has provided to his neighbor farmers on so many occasions, like he didn’t have enough to do at home.
And to recognize his willingness to assist in educating the non-farm public with patience and humility. I once brought a group of Americorps students to his farm (to help plant vegetation in the constructed wetland), and Phil took time out of his day to give them a tour of his heifer facility – a cozy greenhouse barn. He explained a practice to them that might seem cruel to the non- farmer - cropping the cows’ tails. This is a hygiene practice to avoid having the long tail spread manure with potential resulting illness. Imagine that – a friendly and informative discussion between a farm professional and some well-intentioned and attentive non-farmers.
Speaking of education, we also remember with fondness the thousands of sixth graders who were engrossed by Phil’s father, Bill’s (may he rest in peace) presentations on agriculture at our Conservation Field Days events. We never forget the looks on their faces when they got to see and pet the happy, healthy CALVES that he always brought along.
Like we said, for no particular reason…

01/07/2026

Attention Commercial Farmers!
The Soil and Water Conservation District has access to various conservation project funding opportunities. Farms can contact us at any time to discuss possible projects, but for expected 2026 funding opportunities, we are requesting that inquiries be made no later than 2/1/2026. This will give us time to compare project requests with the criteria for upcoming funding programs in effort to maximize the number of projects and funding secured for Orange County farms. Project applications that show greater environmental benefit will be prioritized.
Keep in mind that some projects may be eligible, but require planning and design activities that could delay our ability to pursue project funding.
For a more detailed Project Funding Request document, please visit ocsoilny.org or click on this link:

https://www.ocsoilny.org/agricultural-conservation.html

12/23/2025

Please see Newsletter highlighting the seven farm conservation projects we completed through the Agricultural Environmental Management (AEM) Tier 4 Implementation Program. Don't forget to click on page 12 to view a clip of irrigation in the Orange County Black Dirt using a high tech boom sprayer covering 216 feet in one pass. (It wouldn't fit under the tree, so Santa delivered it earlier this year.)

Check out this Doc designed by Emily King.