Announcing TACD’s 75th Annual Convention
Please make plans to join TACD, our 95 Soil Conservation Districts and our partners in celebrating 75 years of protecting our states natural resources.
Park Vista by Hilton, Gatlinburg, March 2nd through March 5th, 2019
We will be celebrating with our first District to be authorized in 1940, Sumner County Soil Conservation District, and the 95th District, Lake County Soil Conservation District, authorized in 1959. And, celebrate working together on our mutual goals through our Association’s establishment in 1943.
We will be looking back at our successes, but we will also look to the next 75 years and what our Soil Conservation Districts can do to meet the challenges ahead.
For this special year, we are beginning our convention one day early with the TACD Board of Officers and Directors meeting Saturday afternoon, March 2nd. We will be making reduced price tickets available for a group to attend Dolly Parton’s Stampede on Saturday evening. Our first official convention event is an Inspirational Program on Sunday morning. Be checking back for the full program, events and speakers that will be added over the next month and beyond.
So, make your plans to be with us in Gatlinburg in March. It’s a great place to be so come a couple days early or stay a couple days after to enjoy the Great Smokey Mountains and the surrounding area. The Park Vista will honor the convention room rate of $94 for 3 days before and after our convention. Just call the hotel and they will add those days outside our convention days.
To access the TACD Convention Page on our website, click on the 75th Anniversary symbol to the right and that page will have a link to hotel reservations, our convention registration form and other information. Remember, check back often as we add additional information.
Fire Department. Brian is a fireman, and he farms with his dad, Bill Taylor. Bill also works off the farm at Jackson Energy Authority (JEA). Their farm is in Hardeman and Madison Counties. As I was interviewing Brian, I was accompanied by field office staffs from both Hardeman and Madison Counties, Brad Denton, District Conservationist and Joey Ferguson, Soil Conservationist, NRCS, Jackson, Tennessee and Adam Willis, District Conservationist and Nearlene Bass, County Soil Conservation Technician, Bolivar, Tennessee. The day was unusually hot for October, reaching the low 90s. Later that day, I met Bill on the farm.
crops of corn, wheat, soybeans, and they also produce cotton. Brian is a fourth-generation farmer. He said both of his great-grandfathers farmed. Brian and his dad farm some of the same land that his great-grandfathers farmed. The cropping operation is approximately 1,600 acres. Brian said that they have no-tilled the entire time that he has farmed. Bill began no-tilling about five years prior to Brian joining the operation. Brian says, other than leveling new ground that they obtain, they are 100% no-till. Brian said they obtain many farms that come out of pasture and CRP. From the last few years they would proceed from grass 
then disk and do-all for leveling and plant no-till for the following 4 years and then transitioned the following 4 years with cover crops.
In 2013, Kevin provided soil health leadership for Tennessee NRCS and partners. There were three priorities for Tennessee, Soil Health, Soil Health, Soil Health
. Kevin is responsible for Yours Truly working with TACD as a Soil Health Specialist. At my retirement with NRCS, he asked me to take the position, and he worked with TACD to set up a cooperative agreement to fund my position. With his background, it is not surprising that Kevin practices soil health on his home garden. Kevin has moved 16 times during his 41.5 years. He has always had a garden. He has never tilled a garden. That is a testimony we do not hear very often with home gardeners. As I drive across the state, one area that I still see considerable tillage being practiced is in home gardening. I want to use this news article to say there are ways to improve soil health in gardening. Kevin's way is a way out of many ways to improve soil health. Following the principles of soil health will help gardeners improve soil health. 
