Rich White, executive director of Iowa Limestone Producers Association, received the Division of Soil Conservation and Water Quality Award Aug. 30 at the 70th Annual Iowa Soil and Water Conservation District Commissioners Annual Conference at the Prairie Meadows Conference Center in Altoona.
White has led the Iowa Limestone Producers Association (ILPA) for 17 years and will retire later this year. The award recognizes White’s important work in building relationships between the aggregate mining industry and the state’s agricultural community.
White has been instrumental in ag-lime research to develop better products for farmers to sustain healthy and productive soils, according to Jim Gillespie, director of the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship-Division of Soil Conservation and Water Quality (IDALS-DSCWQ).
“Rich has encouraged the ILPA’s promotion of the inter-connections between agriculture and the aggregate industry,” Gillespie said, “because many aggregate mining facilities are located in rural communities and share a common interest in the kinds of land development and urbanization that occurs.”
White also strongly supported the establishment of a mineral inspector within IDALS-DSCWQ.
“The inspector’s office demonstrates the mining industry’s serious interest in the permitting and reclamation efforts and in maintaining the highest responsibility standards in Iowa’s mining industry,” Gillespie said.
White received his award at the Prairie Meadows ceremony from Gillespie and Dale Farnham, chair of the State Soil Conservation Committee.
