6 minute read
Good Neighbors
Good Neighbors
A FARMER’S LEGACY LIVES ON WITH HIS NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBOR
By Joseph Hopper
As you venture deep into northwest Iowa, the landscape of Cherokee County begins to transform. The once perfectly flat and level terrain starts to wrinkle and rise, giving way to a more picturesque topography. A painter would call it a pastoral scene: gravel roads winding through gently rolling hills, windmills slowly spinning in the breeze, and farmhouses nestled next to parked farm equipment. This is the land that Tom Oswald farmed.
Tom graduated from Meriden-Cleghorn High School in 1977. He was determined to start his farming career, but his father, Stanley Oswald, had a slightly different idea. The two cut a deal where Tom would attend Iowa State University first. Stanley had a hunch that was confirmed by many of his son’s future farming peers: Tom had a constant appetite for learning.
The extraordinary thing about Tom wasn’t how quickly he became a trusted voice in farming but how far his voice carried. From northwest Iowa, throughout the state and via the internet, when Tom spoke, people listened. He served as a president of the Cherokee County Farm Bureau, a president of the Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) and on the United Soybean Board’s Executive Committee, among many other positions. Tom quickly garnered an online presence where under the handle of “NoTillTom,” he frequently offered farming advice and opinions. As a result, he became a trusted and beloved figure to many.
Tragically, Tom unexpectedly passed away in the summer of 2022. His passing sent shockwaves through the agricultural community, leaving a void that was deeply felt by all who knew him. For Ryan Johnson, a conservation agronomist for ISA and a neighbor who had grown up just two miles from Tom and his wife, Susanne, the loss was particularly profound. Just two weeks prior, Tom and Ryan had been out in the field with a spade, examining the soil on his farm. To Ryan, Tom was more than a neighbor, he was a role model, a friend and a mentor.
“Tom was always willing to share and help out,” Johnson says. “Since Tom was the first conservation agronomist in the area, you would turn to him if you wanted to adopt conservation practices on your farm. Even his license plate was ‘NoTilTom.’”
Knowing Your Neighbor
After graduating high school, Johnson left the family farm near Cleghorn and earned his ag business degree from Dordt University. After college, he’d work as a sales agronomist in northwest Iowa alongside a familiar face — Tom Oswald — for the better part of a decade.
“Tom was always thinking,” Johnson says. “The best example is when Tom returned from a soybean meeting. We asked him about it, and he said, ‘I don’t have much time, so I’ll give you the short answer.’ Twenty minutes later, he was still talking; that was the short answer. Tom had so much knowledge and experience and was learning everywhere he went. He talked to people across the nation.”
Just a few years after Tom served as ISA president, Johnson would also get involved with ISA. The organization was working to create a network of conservation agronomists located throughout Iowa. Conservation agronomists are the professionals who help farmers make certain conservation practices work on their farms. New practices often mean a change in equipment or an adjustment in how a farmer farms.
“Having a family and a couple of kids, I wanted to find something different than agronomy sales,” says Johnson. “I saw this conservation agronomist position, so I asked Tom, ‘Hey, what’s this position?’
He said, ‘This might be a good fit for you; you’d learn a whole different side of farming than you know now.’”
Johnson continued, “Boy, has that ever been true.”
Farming Like Tom
When Tom passed away in 2022, the former student of Tom’s practices, Johnson, became the caretaker of the same carefully tended land, preserving the soil and natural resources for future generations. Now, Johnson had become the future generation.
“I feel humbled because I’m nowhere near where Tom was, nor do I have the knowledge and expertise Tom had,” Johnson says. “He was far beyond where I’m at today. For the Oswald family to choose me — there are multiple farmers who they could’ve chosen, but they wanted someone to continue that no-till, striptill farming like Tom would have wanted. They took a leap of faith, and I’m so humbled they picked me to continue his legacy. I’m very thankful and appreciative.”
Johnson says his new farming career has helped him as he continues his role as a conservation agronomist for northwest Iowa. He’s tried to keep Tom’s philosophy of constant learning at the forefront. When he has questions, he digs up the wealth of knowledge Tom left through internet forum posts, interviews and Iowa Food & Family Project blog posts. In addition to Tom’s practices, Johnson is now incorporating more acres of cover crops on the farm.
“I’ve got 160 acres of cover crops this year. That’s something I’ve promoted heavily, and I’ve done some of before, but it’s at a larger scale now,” says Johnson. “I just try to keep learning about seeding cover crops on no-till, strip-till and learning how to make it all work. I ask myself, ‘How can I make this even better?’”
Susanne Oswald says Ryan was a natural fit to rent the farmland, as he would continue the same conservation practices her husband had championed. In fact, the young farmer had purchased some of Tom’s farm equipment, so some of the same equipment Tom used remains in use on the farm today.
“If I use my imagination, it could be Tom out there,” she says.
In Cherokee County, this year’s crops are growing in the field and soaking up sunlight. A lone pickup rumbles down a gravel road. Under the blue sky, old steel windmills continue to stand tall, slowly spinning from the breeze. This is where Ryan Johnson farms.
According to Iowa's nutrient reduction strategy, cereal rye and oat cover crops, when included in a corn-soybean rotation, have the potential to reduce nitrate-nitrogen loss by 31% and 28%, respectively.
