Featured Employee - Terry Williamson

Title:     District Conservationist,               Pickens County Location:   Carrollton, AL Length of Service:   15 years   Terry Williamson (r) enjoys working with large landowners and limited resource farmers. These producers grow vegetables using use plastic mulch with drip irrigation.

As a district conservationist assigned to Pickens County, Alabama, Terry Williamson has the opportunity to work with numerous landowners on a daily basis to help them solve conservation issues in order to achieve conservation goals. Williamson works with both large landowners and limited resource producers. All those contacts are rewarding.

One of Williamson’s producers recently received national recognition for their conservation efforts. Dee River Ranch was selected as a regional winner in the Environmental Stewardship Awards Program (ESAP). Sponsored by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Dow Agro-Sciences, and USDA-NRCS, the annual ESAP awards honor cattle producers whose stewardship practices are inventive, cost-effective, and contribute to environmental conservation. This progressive 10,000 acre ranch includes a cattle operation as well as row crops.

Also among the producers in Pickens County are several limited resource producers who have taken advantage of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) to install plastic mulch with drip irrigation to grow vegetables. These producers have high praise for both the financial and technical assistance provided by NRCS. They say, “Without the water and the plastic, we could not grow vegetables. We appreciate the help of NRCS and the good job that Terry is doing for us.”

Williamson says, “It’s rewarding to work with good stewards of the land. Whether it’s a producer with several acres or one with only a few acres, they all have questions and needs. They seek the assistance of NRCS to help them use the land that has been entrusted to them in the most efficient ways. We also guide them and encourage them to partner with our land grant universities and numerous state commodity groups. Through the cooperation of these partners, these producers have become leaders in the stewardship effort in Alabama. They have combined their love of the land with sound business plans to produce farming operations that are both profitable and sustainable. It’s satisfying to play a part in helping these producers achieve their conservation goals, whatever that may be.”

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