PANDORA, Ohio – Niese Ag LLC, of Pandora, has been honored as the first place winner of the 2026 Red Gold Stewardship Award while Myers Sod Farm LLC, of Seymour, Ind., received second place honors. The award is presented by the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) in partnership with Red Gold Tomato Co. The award recognizes growers who demonstrate a strong commitment to improving soil health and water quality on their operations. The award is in its 18th year.

“The goal is to help highlight the practices already utilized by conservation-minded growers of processing tomatoes,” said Curt Utterback, director of agriculture at Red Gold. “While it is optional for growers to participate, we’ve had 100 percent participation within the program the past several years. This program is a formal opportunity to communicate the efforts of these farmers.”

Niese Ag LLC received a $1,500 scholarship, as well an option to ship an additional truckload per day during harvest season. Myers Sod Farm LLC was awarded a $750 scholarship and a half truckload bonus.

“The growers only harvest so many loads of tomatoes per day, and that is determined by the size of their contract,” Utterback said. “Because the processing facilities can only process so much per day, unlike corn and soybeans, we cannot store them outside in bins. So, if a grower by contract is supposed to pick five loads per day every day, getting this extra load or half load added to their original schedule is a big deal.”

The Niese family farm grows a diverse range of corps, including corn, wheat, rye, soybean, red raspberries, black raspberries and blackberries. They have introduced and maintained several conservation practices, such as grass filter strips and grassed waterways to reduce runoff, cover crops to improve soil health, reduced tillage to protect soil structure, blind inlets and drainage water management structures to control water flow, small grains for soil cover and biodiversity, and grade stabilization structures to prevent erosion.

“We raise all Roma tomatoes for Red Gold,” Derek Niese said. “We raise about 4,000 acres of tomato plants each year, that’s roughly 3 million tomato plants. Bottom line, if you take care of the land it’ll take care of you and future generations to come.”

For Niese and his family, caring for the land has been their main objective on the farm since it was founded in 2003.

“Conservation of the land is a long-term process,” said Niese, a fourth-generation farmer. “You have to keep that ground healthy for every crop, every year. We try to put cover crops in there each year, but sometimes the weather doesn’t cooperate, but in general the land gets a cover crop each year.”

Myers Sod Farm won the Red Gold Stewardship Award in 2020 for its sustainable practices. In 2023, Niese and Myers finished 1-2 in this same competition.

Conservation efforts at the Myers farm include GPS fertilizer and chemical applications, water sediment control basins, grid soil sampling, vegetative field borders and drainage tiling.

“We value conservation and are proud to be part of the Red Gold community of farmers,” Adam Myers said. 

ISDA evaluates the Red Gold Stewardship Award entries, conducting on-site inspections of the entire farm and the conservation systems in place. Farms are scored based on the systems they use to protect natural resources. Then, evaluators submit the winners to Red Gold.

“Farmers continue to set the gold standard for their commitment to conservation,” said Don Lamb, ISDA director.