Polly Sachs has been a fixture at the Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) office in Warrenton for 20 years. In 2019, she was nominated by her coworkers in Lincoln, Pike, Montgomery and Warren County to receive the employee district specialist award.

Sachs was recently surprised to be honored during the Missouri Association of Soil and Water Conservation District’s annual training conference, receiving the Outstanding Job Performance award.

Sachs said she grew up on a small farm and as the youngest, she was in charge of feeding the chickens and ducks. She has always loved the country and appreciates the challenges facing Missouri farmers.

She was a stay-at-home mom before she started working part-time for SWCD. Her duties have grown over the years. Her nomination by her peers called her “an exceptionally valuable employee; her responsibilities are immense, as well as her dedication.”

Sachs is considered a “shared employee” by Warren and Montgomery counties. She is responsible for accounting, payroll, employee benefits, grant writing and state cost sharing contracting.

One of her most enjoyable jobs is coordinating annual farm tours which allows more than 400 local school children from 10 schools to visit one of three farms in Warren County. Local families that host the event include the Glosemeyer, Puetz and Reckamp farms.

The students tour more than 10 stations, including soils, rocks and minerals, pollinators, worms, farm safety and a farm animal area manned by area FFA high school students. Sachs coordinates volunteers from a number of agencies to provide demonstrations for the students. Lunch is provided by the Pork Producers.

“The SWCD board feels very strongly about reaching the kids,” she said. “I can’t forget the look on a boy’s face when a hen laid an egg right in front of him.”

Sachs is also in charge of coordinating SWCD programs with area farmers, including renting out equipment, coordinating cost share funds, or getting a farmer to the right agency to solve their problem.

She is the secretary of the Montgomery-Warren Ag Awareness committee. Topics discussed at their meetings include tariff and taxes, erosion control, estate planning or farming business practices. The group is also planning a Farm to Table group to be held this June in Wellsville.

“It makes me feel good that the people I work with would nominate me,” she said. “The soil and water people, federal agencies, the farm service — we all work together to help the landowner.”