Jantz named 2021 Farmer of the Year

BONNERS FERRY — Lynn and Leah Jantz of Kootenai Valley Ranch farms are named the 2021 Conservation Farmer of the Year.

Each year the Boundary Soil Conservation District looks back over the previous farming season and nominates and chooses a local farmer that went above and beyond.

In a statement about this year’s winners, “KVR is deeply rooted in agriculture, as well as soil and water conservation,” Boundary Soil Conservation officials said.

Kootenai Valley Ranch farms around 2,000 acres in the Kootenai Valley, producing crops of winter wheat, canola, timothy and alfalfa for feed and seed. They also run 280 head of cattle. In their efforts to be good stewards of the land, KVR has entered into several conservation enhancement programs with the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, including the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Conservation Stewardship Program.

And this year KVR has also been accepted into NRCS’s Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, which will assure their land is devoted to agricultural production in perpetuity.

At a breakfast on April 19, Tom Daniel, chairman of the Boundary Soil Conservation board, presented Lynn and his wife Leah with an award to thank them for being good stewards of the land.

“Lynn was born and raised in Boundary County and had dreams of being a carpenter but ended up a farmer. I would say Boundary County is sure thankful he did,” Daniel said.

“Kootenai Valley Ranch Inc. exemplifies outstanding conservation efforts and all of us at the Boundary Soil Conservation District thank them for their innovative farming and livestock management techniques on one of today’s American farms,” BSCD officials said.