The Dodge Soil and Water Conservation District has awarded the Terrance Lorch Family Farm as the 2024
Conservationist of the Year. Terry Lorch has been farming since 1969, and now owns and operates over 350 acres
in Mantorville and Wasioja townships in Dodge County. Once moving onto the farm in 1980, he started planting
over 1,400 linear feet of trees around his new farmstead. The mix of deciduous and conifer trees provide a
windbreak helping with energy conservation, and wildlife habitat.
Terry has been working with the Dodge Soil and Water Conservation District since he started farming in the late
1960’s. He currently runs a wheat / soybean rotation, and has worked with the Dodge Soil and Water
Conservation District and United States Department of Agriculture – Natural Resources Conservation Service to
transition to no-till farming for his wheat, and uses minimal tillage when planting soybeans. In the 1980’s he
worked with David Delzer from the Dodge Soil and Water Conservation District to install four water and sediment
control basins on the southern side of his farm, and in the 2010’s in partnership with the Natural Resources
Conservation Service, he installed two more on the northern portion of his property. Terry also worked with the
Dodge Soil and Water Conservation District along with the Natural Resources Conservation Service throughout the
years to install six grassed waterways on his land, totaling more than 8,300 linear feet.
Today Terry is experimenting with cover crops, including adding oats in with his fertilizer applications. He’s
looking forward to continuing to work with the Dodge Soil and Water Conservation District on ways to improve his
operation either though cover crops, and if needed, though additional conservation structural. He believes we
have to take care of our soil now, so we will have something to farm in future generations.
Please join us in congratulating the Terrance Lorch Family Farm as the Dodge Soil and Water Conservation
District’s 2024 Conservationist of the year!
