Finalist continues conservation legacy

Lynn Grooms
Oct 25, 2021
Oct 25, 2021

1 of 6

Mike Berg and International Turbo 1206 tractor

Mike Berg poses with a vintage International Turbo 1206 tractor.

Contributed

Fields feature grassed waterways to slow water movement at the Berg farm near Blanchardville, Wisconsin.

Contributed

Pecatonica River and Mike Berg's streambank restoration

Streambank restoration along the Pecatonica River that runs through Mike Berg's farm helps to reduce erosion and runoff. It also mitigates damage to Berg's fields from flooding.

Contributed

Pecatonica River showing rip-rap and fish structure

Rip-rap involves placing rock along a waterway to protect its banks. Mike Berg was able to do the installation with cost-sharing from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service. The rip-rap project also helps reduce the amount of phosphorus that washes into the Pecatonica River, so the village of Argyle partially funded the project in exchange for credit toward reducing phosphorus total loads from its municipal waste-treatment plant.

Contributed

Fish structure for providing fish shelter

Parts of a tree are placed in the river along Mike Berg's farmland. The log provides shelter for fish; Berg installed 20 such structures in the river.

Contributed

Red Angus and Black Angus are in a rotational-grazing program at the Berg farm.

Contributed

Prefer us on Google

Lynn Grooms

BLANCHARDVILLE, Wis. – Mike Berg credits his love for conservation to his father, Byron Berg. His father was an early adopter of contour-strip farming as well as no-till. The father-and-son team also constructed diversions on about 100 acres to channel rainwater so it would flow at a slower rate on the family’s rolling farm in Lafayette County, Wisconsin.

Lynn Grooms writes about the diversity of agriculture, including the industry’s newest ideas, research and technologies as a staff reporter for Agri-View based in Wisconsin.