From the Classroom to Conservation Leadership

A tough lesson

One day, while Van Dyke was teaching his environmental ag class, he received a call from a local sheriff’s deputy informing him that the local highway was being shut down due to his blowing fields. “That was the most embarrassing lesson, you know, here I am an ag teacher teaching agriculture, and yet they're shutting down the highway in front of my farm because I was a poor farmer.” 

This wake-up call prompted Van Dyke to rethink how he was stewarding his land. He joined his local conservation district to learn more about cover crops, water conservation, and soil health principles. His conservation journey continued as he was elected to the state office, national office, and finally as the national president of the National Association of Conservation Districts.

For Van Dyke, conservation is personal. His farm and ranch are located above the Ogallala Aquifer, a large underground water source that feeds nearly one-third of America’s food and fiber production. The rate at which the resource is being depleted is unsustainable, and Van Dyke realizes the importance of educating and conserving this resource: “Food and fiber are things that we cannot do without.” Van Dyke has also seen the international impact conservation has. Through his travels to 27 different countries, he has seen how food security begins with conservation. “Everything comes from the soil. We have the tools; we just have to use them to be sustainable.”