The American Soybean Association (ASA) is pleased to announce that E. Cullen Bryant of Bryant Farms in Dillon has won the 2012 South Region Conservation Legacy Award. Bryant will be presented with an award on March 2, 2012 at the ASA Awards Banquet at Commodity Classic in Nashville, TN.
The Conservation Legacy Awards Program is a national program designed to recognize outstanding environmental and conservation achievements by U.S. soybean farmers. Selection is based on each farmer’s environmental and economic efforts on their farm. Judges look for dedication to the land through cropland management practices, farmstead protection, and conservation and environmental management. There are three regional winners, from which a national winner will be chose and announced at the Awards Banquet in March 2012.
Bryant Farms is an innovative entity dedicated to addressing resource concerns that improve and/or compliment the farm conservation objectives including soil retention; reducing or eliminating nutrient contaminants reaching our streams and rivers; improving the forest by reducing or containing wildfires and wildlife habitat improvements concentrating on improving the quail population. Bryant is a strong supporter and participant in the Conservation Reserve Program, the Environmental Quality Incentive Program and the Conservation Stewardship Program.
For Bryant’s farming operation, “Conservation is all about being sustainable, both economically and environmentally, so we are able to pass on the natural riches God has blessed us with to future generations.” Bryant Farms is active in its community, hosting several educational activities including South Carolina Farm Bureau Ag in the Classroom Summer Teacher Institute and Farm City Week. Bryant Farms also plants a garden to support the local food bank and has helped develop a garden for the Master Gardner program.