The Perry Lions Club received an informative presentation at their Monday meeting from Tom Vincent, who farms about 1,400 acres in the Perry area. Vincent’s talk was titled “Water, Farming and You.”
Vincent explained that his farming operation uses hog manure and commercial fertilizer on his crops, and he tries to reduce nutrient runoff. He applies fertilizer at different rates across the fields, he said, and the chemical makeup of the hog manure is tested so he knows what he is applying to his fields.
He also described some of the conservation practices that are being used by farmers to reduce water pollution. Last August, Vincent was the first farmer in Dallas County and only the sixth in the state to install a saturated buffer along a drainage ditch in his field.
Saturated buffers are a relatively new conservation practice used to reduce nutrient runoff. Many people visited the site on his field day in August, including Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey, who turned out to see how this practice works.
The saturated buffer system’s filters are hooked up to his existing field tiles, and they filter runoff from 120 acres of land, keeping the fertilizer from flowing into the rivers.
In other Perry Lions Club business, Lion Dave Wright passed out a flyer about the Flags over Perry Program and gave a report about the upcoming project. We had 215 contracts last year, and Wright said this year’s goal is to have 300 flags displayed on the streets of Perry.
Wright plans to again go door to door to get more Perry residents signed up for the program, and he encouraged all of the club members to assist him in acquiring more participants in the project. The Lions will place American Flags on a person’s property for five holidays during the year for a yearly fee of $25.
This is the 100th Anniversary of Lions Clubs, and the national office suggests that each club make a legacy gift to their community in honor of Lions Clubs. Perry Lions Club President Lou Hoger urged his fellow Lions to think about what the Perry Lions want to give to the Perry community.
Lion John Andorf also reminded the club that the Kids Sight Program will start at the end of March or in the first week in April. He asked the membership to keep this time period in mind so there will be good participation in this very important service project.
