Dairyman Dino Giacomazzi Named Leopold Winner

A long time NRCS cooperator, Dino Giacomazzi, has been honored for his conservation achievements by receiving the 2012 Leopold Conservation Award. "Dino has been working diligently as a good steward of the land," says Hugo Calvillo, NRCS District Conservationist in Hanford. "He was an early adopter of conservation tillage on his family's dairy and he is generous in sharing his knowledge with other producers through the valley."

Dino is the fourth generation to farm "The Giacomazzi Dairy," which has been in operation since 1893. While he is proud of this family's farm heritage, Dino is not tied to doing things "the way they have always been done." Indeed he was among the very first in California to cooperate with NRCS and UC's Jeff Mitchell to try strip tillage-radically limiting the area of soil disturbance. Like anyone trying something new, he has experimented with ways of perfecting his system using different planting densities, varieties and equipment. Ultimately, he reduced his tillage passes across the field from 14 to two, while also reducing his diesel and labor inputs.

While conservation tillage (CT) is practiced by as much as a quarter of the farmers elsewhere in the country, farmers in California's high value crops have been slower to make the transition. The motivations are different too. While farmers in the Midwest and southeast value CT for improving soil quality and fertility, decreasing erosion, absorbing rainfall and improving profitability, Dino began using the practice because it radically reduces diesel, dust and particulate emissions. Dino also does his part for air quality by using lower emissions farm equipment.

Dino has also worked with NRCS and other conservationists to improve the fertility of his soils by using the manure from his dairy and strategically storing and transferring it, to provide nutrients for his crops while protecting water quality. Communications from Dino are also a world apart from those who have farmed before him. While he continues traditions like hosting field days on his farm and working with farm magazines, he also writes a blog and uses Twitter and other forms of social media, and shares his expertise on these new ways of communicating with other farmers.

California conservation is lucky to have such an energetic advocate in our ranks.

On the Web
For more information about conservation tillage, download Dino Giacomazzi's article "A Systems Approach to Conservation Tillage of Forage Crops: A California Dairyman's Perspective" on Sustainable Conservation's Web site.

More information about conservation tillage is available on Sustainable Conservation's Web site.

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