Salem farmer presented regional American Soybean conservation honor

South Dakota is home to the Upper Midwest Regional winner of the American Soybean Association 2025 Conservation Legacy Award.

“I started converting over to no-till for saving moisture,” said Kurt Stiefvater, who farms at Salem and was presented the regional recognition at the 2025 Commodity Classic. “And as we’ve kept advancing, I went into more of a crop rotation rather than just corn and soybeans and got into using small grain in the rotation and just developing soil health [and] helping advocate for soil health these last few years.”

Stiefvater was one of four regional winners recognized by the ASA at that organization’s annual Awards Celebration event held this year in Denver.

“It’s a great honor being recognized for this,” he said after returning from the event, adding “[I’m] just doing things I love to do.”

Stiefvater admits to an initial lack of understanding about no-till farming, which resulted in almost giving up the practice before permanently putting aside his tillage equipment along with his doubts about no-till farming.

“It’s working great,” he said, referring to his shift to no-till farming. “I just really like the improvement of my organic matter…the soil feels better. I have greater infiltration with moisture so I’m capturing when we do have rainfall and even in the spring with snowmelt. [I] capture that moisture and get it for the growing season; just preserving [soil moisture], stopping the erosion, minimizing the erosion that can happen.”

In 15 years, Stiefvater’s practices have more than doubled his soil’s organic matter from its original 2 percent when he began testing and tracking organic matter content, to its present 4 to 5 percent.

“Now that I know what I’m doing a little better and understanding soil, I think I can speed up that process and improve [soil organic matter content],” Stiefvater explained. “Adding that organic matter helps provide resiliency for these different weather events that we have, either a larger rainfall or drier season.”

There’s an extended conversation with Stiefvater on an upcoming edition of the Soybean Pod, which will be available on most podcast platforms, during which he talks about how his cow/calf operation and his conservation farming success are symbiotic.

“By having the cow/calf operation – having livestock is part of my farming operation – [cattle are] utilizing the crops better, the residues afterwards, and minimizing my mechanical use of machinery for harvesting the hay and then feeding the hay,” he said. “Cattle can stay out and graze.”

No-till farming has also resulted in an improvement in Stiefvater’s bottom line.

“it’s helped me economically keep my costs down lower without all the extra things you have to do with tillage,” he said. “[It’s minimized] my passes across the field, letting the livestock harvest the crops, from cover crops to the residue.”

Stiefvater concludes that a centuries-old adage has proven useful in its application to his farm.

“The diversity of my crops and the livestock helps balance out my portfolio for providing income,” Stiefvater reasoned. “Not all my eggs are in one basket.”