Sunday, July 26, 2015

July 26, 2015
By Cindy Snyder
 
JEROME
Conservation practices (click here) help protect soil and water resources, but it takes people to implement those practices on the ground.

People like David Mezes. For nearly 30 years, he has been in charge of managing everything not related to cows at Si-Ellen Dairy near Jerome — in other words, making sure the manure and effluent generated on the farm are used in ways that benefit crops and help the environment.

“For the long-term sustainability of the business, conservation makes sense,” Mezes said. “If we over apply manure and ruin the ground, we won’t have any feed for the cattle.

“And I don’t have to stay awake at night wondering where our ‘manure’ is,” he added.

Mezes used a different word but the meaning is clear. Taking care of manure and treating it as a valuable resource is a priority for the family-run business.

That was a message that conservation leaders and livestock industry representatives wanted to convey to officials from the Environmental Protection Agency and Idaho Department of Environmental Quality during a barnstorming tour of conservation practices across southern Idaho. But they also pushed EPA to improve relationships with farmers and ranchers....