The Reckamp family was recently honored by the Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) during its annual farm tour at their property near Wright City.

For 20 years, the Reckamp family has welcomed fourth-graders from the area to their farm to learn about soil conservation efforts, farm animals and farming practices. Gene and Marilyn Reckamp were joined by family, David and Marylin Reckamp. The Reckamps have farmed the property for 62 years.

Shortly after the Reckamp family helped  launch the SWCD tours, two other farm families joined the project, offering similar experiences for the students. In Marthasville, Ralph and Vikki Glosemeyer opened their Concord Hill area farm.

Karl and Ralline Puetz, then Karl Puetz Jr., Mary Ann Puetz and Dennis Puetz joined the project in 2000, serving the Warrenton area.

Marylin Reckamp said only one percent of the entire population of the U.S. are farmers.

“We want to teach the children how important it is to conserve the land and grow food so we can eat,” she said. “We thoroughly enjoy having them here. We don’t want them to think food just comes from the grocery store.”

David Reckamp said theirs is a working farm. Often, the students visit right in the middle of the fall harvest. The farm produces corn, soybeans and livestock.

Marilyn Reckamp said she and her husband, Gene, want more parents to visit the farm, in addition to the students. She feels the families learn much. She related how learning about electricity from the Cuivre River Electric safety educator might have even saved the life of a visitor to the farm.

“She hit a telephone pole and remembered the advice to stay in her car,” she said. “At least we helped save somebody.”

“We are fortunate enough to have farm tour hosts such as the Reckamps,” said District Conservationist Tammy Teeter. “Over the course of 20 years, we would guess we have spread the conservation message to at least 2,300 students in the Wright City area.”

Teeter said the students learn how “natural resources such as soil, water, air, plants and animals are vital to all of us.”

Students experience a variety of educational activities at each of the SWCD-sponsored farms. Children see piglets and a beekeeper at the Reckamp farm. The Puetz family offers fishing in their lake. The Glosemeyers offer a unique look at a pig heart and how it benefits heart valve replacement.

All three of the farms depend on representatives from the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Natural Resources Conservation Service to enhance the program. Students also learn about soils, erosion, wildlife, farm safety, rocks and minerals, trees, earthworms, electricity and composting.

Members of the Warren County Pork Producers Association volunteer to provide lunch for the students. Teachers follow up the experience with a farm tour quiz. Students may also compete in an essay contest titled “What I Learned on the Conservation Farm Tour.”

For more information about the SWCD, visit mosoilandwater.land.

The Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District honored the Reckamp family Wednesday, Oct. 18, during its annual farm tour. The Reckamps were the first of three farm families to offer their grounds for the educational project. Nearly 500 students from the Wright City area visit the farm each year. Pictured, from left, are Gene and Marilyn Reckamp and David and Marylin Reckamp. Record Photo/Cindy Gladden.