SOMERSET, Ky. — Kentucky was well represented at last month’s American Farm Bureau Federation convention in San Diego; Chris and Rebekah Pierce of Pulaski County were honored with the Young Farmer and Rancher Achievement Award, which recognizes young farmers and ranchers who have excelled in farming or ranching operations and exhibited superior leadership abilities.

“We were very excited to win this award, and truly honored to even be on the stage with so many other good producers from around the country,” said Chris Pierce. “We are very fortunate to have excellent support from our community and the staff of Kentucky Farm Bureau (KFB).”

He grew up in farming in the same community in which he and his family now live. He said he worked in tobacco and mowed yards when he was younger. But it wasn’t until college that he met his wife, who had not grown up on the farm – but Pierce said she has adapted well to farming life.

“I bought the farm we live on in 2003 after graduating from the University of Kentucky (UK); we got married in 2004 and I had been working at UK as a research assistant,” he said.

Pierce still works at the college level at his hometown Somerset Community College, serving as an adult agriculture instructor helping young farmers. The Pierces also expanded to a second farm in 2005 and now own about 328 acres and farm 3,500 acres of row crops.

“We double-crop about 1,000 acres that’s divided between soft red winter wheat and winter canola,” he explained. “We also plant a lot of cover crops. We have a third of our farm in winter crops and another 40 percent in cover crops.”

Pierce believes in taking exceptional care of the soil in order to make his crops the best they can be. The Pierces’ farm is a “never-till” operation.

“We’re growing high-biomass cover crops and rolling those down in the spring to conserve moisture and to capture nutrients through the winter time,” he said.

A split between soybeans and corn make up Pierce’s summer crops. He said they are using different rotations such as a five-crop, three-year rotation that includes corn followed by canola and double-crop soybeans, with wheat planted in the fall and then double-crop soybeans.

“This provides a lot of diversity in the soil, and that’s one of the things we’re deriving from the cover crops, as well,” said Pierce. “It also breaks up a lot of pathogens in the soil.”

His philosophy is simple: “You live and die off the soil.”

This method of farming has made the Pierce family successful in the field, and it is their involvement with young farmers such as themselves that has made them successful in the agriculture community.

The two were also recipients of KFB’s 2014 Outstanding Young Farm Family Award last December. Both are active members of the KFB Young Farmer program and Pierce is a graduate of KFB’s Leadership Enhancement for Agricultural Development (LEAD) class.

Rebekah, who graduated from Eastern Kentucky University with a degree in interior design, said that if they can accomplish this honor, any young farm family can do it. “Maybe bringing this award back to Kentucky will give others encouragement to try new things and to be more active as farm leaders in their communities,” she added.

As winners at the national level, the Pierces get their choice of either a 2015 Chevrolet Silverado or GMC Sierra, courtesy of General Motors, and paid registration to AFBF’s 2015 FUSION (Farmers United: Skills, Inspiration, Outreach and Networking) Conference Feb. 13-16 in Nashville, Tenn.