The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) serving South Dakota is pleased to announce that Riley Kammerer and his family received the South Dakota Hugh Hammond Bennett Producer Award for 2022. Riley Kammerer along with his wife, Jimmie, and their three daughters (Karlie, Katelyn, and Kymbal) manage the family ranch using adaptive grazing management in Piedmont, South Dakota. Each year, the South Dakota NRCS gives a state-level Hugh Hammond Bennett Producer Award with the award recipients nominated for the national Hugh Hammond Bennett award. The Producer Award is presented to a producer who demonstrates a commitment to conservation planning, pioneering new opportunities, and leadership in the community.
Riley is determined to leave the ranch’s soils and resources in better condition for future generations. He realized the need to increase his harvest efficiency to meet his goals and implemented adaptive intensive grazing management on the whole ranch to achieve year-round grazing with little to no use of hay. In 2020 NRCS awarded Riley with a Conservation Innovation Grant to demonstrate the effectiveness of using diverse season long cover crop mixtures and grazing to increase soil health versus traditional haying practices used in western South Dakota. Each fall, Riley and his family complete range and cover crop clippings to determine forage available for winter grazing.
Riley is very passionate about providing educational opportunities for youth and beginning farmers/ranchers. He is eager to promote the soil health practices and holds yearly field days on his ranch to spread the word to neighbors, friends, and the public. Riley is an integral part of the planning committees for a four-day Ranch Management School for Young Adults and a Soil Heath and Conservation Youth in Ag Field Day three-workshop series. Riley is a current director on the South Dakota Grassland Coalition board. Riley is also very active in his local community. He is an active supporter of 4-H, serving as a past shooting sports instructor, promoting livestock judging, and currently serves on the livestock sales committee for the Butte-Lawrence County Fair. Riley is also a member of the North Haines Volunteer Fire Department.
Riley’s efforts in South Dakota agriculture include working on his own operation and with the community at large. The Kammerer family uses adaptive management to build a resilient ranch, and Riley also assists the agricultural community in learning more about regenerative management strategies. As was stated in a Pray for Rain, Prepare for Drought interview, the Kammerers are proactive, not reactive, both when it comes to their operation and their outreach. In recognition of Riley and his family’s dedication to conservation, they have been honored with the 2022 Hugh Hammond Bennett Producer Award.
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