Soil Health to Go! with Leopold Conservation Award Winning Burrier’s Linganore Farm

On May 8, 12-12:30, our monthly Soil Health to Go virtual event features David and Belinda Burrier of Burrier’s Linganore Farm in Union Bridge, Maryland. Earlier this year, the couple won the 2024 Maryland Leopold Conservation Award, a program designed to recognize and celebrate extraordinary achievement in voluntary conservation by agricultural landowners.

David’s story begins with always knowing he wanted to be a farmer and learning about the need for conservation practices from his father.  On rented land, he improved his no-till production methods by addressing soil compaction and installing grassed waterways to reduce sediment loads in nearby waterways. 

In 1985, a severe back injury and two unsuccessful surgeries eventually left him totally immobile, so he stopped farming and applied his skills as an agronomist to his work with a fertilizer company. Decades later, after a miracle surgeon was able to repair his back, David and his wife Belinda were purchased the 109-acre farm where he’d grown up, and David returned to farming in 2007.

Both David and Belinda have taken on leadership roles with agricultural organizations, cooperatives, and foundations, including Belinda’s tenure on the executive committee of the United Soybean Board.

Today, they grow corn, soybeans, wheat and hay. Using no-till, cover crops, stream buffers, pollinator habitat and other conservation practices, David has doubled the amount of organic matter in their fields, simultaneously boosting water holding capacity, suppressing weeds and improving soil health. As a result, they’ve seen a 30% yield increase and a 25% input reduction on the farm.

The Burrier’s operation was recently featured in a Soil Health Case Study prepared by American Farmland Trust, which we’ll also touch on during the event. 

Join this free, virtual session to learn more about how the Burrier’s have kept soil health as their primary goal and how it has paid off in the long term health of their operation.

Register here.

The goal of the Million Acre Challenge is to support farmers in building healthy soils on one million acres of Maryland agricultural land by 2030. By joining the Challenge, you show your commitment to putting your boots on the pathway to a profitable, resilient future for your farm with healthy soils as the foundation.