Pork farmers Jim and JoAnn Velkamp of Jasper are active in community.

Veldkamp Farms' swine barns.

Inside the Veldkamp's nursery barn.

Jim Veldkamp with key employees Randy Baden and Joe Buysse.

Veldkamp Farms, located near Jasper, was named a 2008 Pork Industry Environmental Steward Award winner.

Pipestone County pork producers Jim and JoAnn Veldkamp, along with their employees Randy Baden and Joe Buysse, are recognized for their commitment to environmental stewardship, animal care and community involvement.

Veldkamp Farms is the tenth Minnesota pork operation to receive this recognition since the award's inception in 1995. No other state has been home to this many national environmental stewards.

The Veldkamps' swine facilities include three, 600-head nurseries; three, 1,200- head finishing barns; and a 2,400-head wean-to-finish barn. The barns are built over reinforced concrete manure storage pits.

Along with other pork producing families, the Veldkamps are shareholders in two sow units managed by Pipestone System. These sow units provide the farm with regular supplies of healthy weaned pigs.

In 1993 the Veldkamps were amongst the first shareholders in the Pipestone System. As shareholders, the pork producers retain their independence yet realize advantages such as economy of scale, and access to swine production and management experts.

The 'nutrient cycle' is extremely important to Veldkamp Farms' pork production and farming practices. The nutrient-rich swine manure from the 16,500 market hogs they finish annually returns to the farmland as soil fertilizer. At the on-farm feed mill, their corn and soybeans are converted into feed for their pigs. The pigs start the cycle again by generating locally-grown fertilizer for the crops.

The manure fertilizes part of the farm's 1,250 acres of corn and soybeans. The Veldkamps' ridge-till cropping system allows for summer manure application as a side dress to corn and soybean fields. Their fall manure application rates are derived from sampling the soil for its fertilizer needs and then matching it with nutrient tests from the manure. In windy southwestern Minnesota, the ridge-till cropping system helps prevent crop yield losses by retaining soil moisture and by warding off soil erosion. It also saves on energy costs because of fewer equipment passes over the fields and less equipment wear.