The mailbox is painted Allis orange and the dog’s name is Chalmers, so the Sherman family’s preferred farm machinery brand is no secret. Jim and Denise Sherman, along with sons Bob and Tom, have dozens of antique Allis-Chalmers tractors, wagons and implements, some fully restored and others in progress. While they’re eager to share their enthusiasm for all things orange, they also demonstrate a family commitment to conservation on their farm near Centerburg.   

The Sherman family is being honored for their conservation efforts with a 2017 Ohio Conservation Farm Family Award. The award, which will be presented at the Farm Science Review on Sept. 21, recognizes farmers for their work to protect and conserve soil, water and other natural resources. The Shermans were nominated by Sue Cunningham, chairman of the board of supervisors for the Delaware Soil and Water Conservation District.

Jim and Denise farm about 700 acres on both sides of the Delaware-Morrow county line. Part of the land has been in Jim’s family since his great-great-grandfather bought it in 1892. A 177-acre parcel of that family land, now owned by Jim and his sister, was recently accepted into the Local Agricultural Easement Purchase Program through the Ohio Department of Agriculture, with Delaware County commissioners as local sponsors. The program protects farmland from development with the purchase of easements restricting nonfarm uses. “All the work from the other generations is not going to go for naught,” Jim says. He is planning to submit applications for additional parcels in the future. “Eventually, I’d like to get it all preserved,” he explains.

Over the years, Jim and Denise have added land to the family farm. Bob has also bought nearby land to expand the farm and so has Tom, along with his wife, Margaret. Tom and Margaret have a 16-month-old son, Daniel, who enjoys visiting his grandparents on the farm. The farm has always been a family effort, says Denise. “You can’t have a farm without the entire family helping with it.”

Bob, who works as a resource conservationist for the Delaware Soil and Water Conservation District, continues to help out on the farm part time. So does Tom, who works for JD Equipment in New Albany. Currently, the Shermans have about 150 acres in corn and 350 acres in soybeans. They also raise hay on about 30 acres and put out about 20 acres of wheat every other year. An additional 20 acres are used as pasture for the family’s beef herd. “It’s ground we can’t profitably farm,” notes Jim.

They have 22 crossbred cows and a bull, and produce feeder calves. Additional land is managed as woodland with the help of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry. The woodland management plan includes grapevine control, selective harvesting and best management plans for timber removal.

The Shermans began experimenting with no-till on their crop ground in the early 1980s. “We had kind of a love-hate relationship with no-till for about 10 years,” Jim recalls.

Now they use it on all their crop ground, unless they need to level land after installation of drainage tile. In addition, they have been planting cover crops on part of their ground for the last four years. The crop residue and cover crops help improve the soil and prevent soil erosion, Bob points out. “We have very little runoff here.”

Although they use more modern equipment for no-till corn and soybean production, the Shermans put their antiques to work for hay and wheat harvest. They use an antique Allis small round baler for hay, turning out 60-pound round bales. Even though the small round bales are unusual today, Jim prefers them. They are small enough to handle by hand and also shed water in the field better than square bales, he explains. The Shermans also own 19 pull-type combines, and they use some of the collection for wheat harvest. They make use of assorted antique tractors and wagons for hauling hay, straw and wheat as well.

The family’s interest in Allis-Chalmers machinery has its roots in Jim’s childhood. He remembers watching his dad and a friend of his dad’s working with Allis-Chalmers equipment. “I spent many hours sitting on the tool box of a WD45,” he recalls. “What you know as a kid is what you want to collect.”

The family is particularly proud of a fully restored Allis-Chalmers D19 tractor and forage chopper. The choppers were made for only three years in the early 1960s, explains Bob. “They didn’t make many, and there are not many left.”

Water quality focus
Jim and Denise became involved with the local Soil and Water Conservation District more than 40 years ago after they bought a field that needed drainage work. Jim went on to become a supervisor for the Delaware SWCD, serving from 1985 through 2012. Jim was also a founding member of the Upper Big Walnut Creek Water Quality Partnership, and the Sherman farm has been used for a variety of water quality research and demonstration projects.

Since 2004, the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service has been collecting water samples from some of the Shermans’ subsurface tile lines and surface drains as part of a long-term comparison of water quality in similar watersheds with different drainage practices. In 2016, the Shermans began working with Ohio State researchers studying woodchip bioreactors and phosphorus removal structures. The system diverts part of the water from a drain tile into the woodchip bioreactor, which removes part of the nitrogen, explains Bob. The process releases phosphorus from the wood chips, so the drainage water from the bioreactor is channeled through a reaction chamber containing steel slag, which reacts with and holds the phosphorus. Additional drainage water that bypassed the wood chip bioreactor also flows through the slag chamber. Researchers are monitoring the nutrient levels in the water throughout the process, Bob explains. The next step will be to vary fertilizer rates to see how the reactors perform under different circumstances.

Ongoing research is important to determine what production practices work best to protect soil and water and also to preserve and improve soils, Jim says. “You’ve got to keep the soil on the ground for future generations to have something to eat.”

Sherman Farms

The family: Jim and Denise Sherman have two grown sons, who remain involved with the farm. Bob also works as a resource conservationist for the Delaware Soil and Water Conservation District. Tom works for JD Equipment in New Albany. Tom and his wife, Margaret have a 16-month-old son, Daniel.

The farm: About 700 acres of land in Delaware and Morrow counties is used for production of soybeans, corn, wheat and hay, plus pasture and woodlands. The farm includes a 22-head cow-calf herd. The crop land is in long-term no-till, and the farm has participated in conservation research with the USDA Agricultural Research Service and Ohio State.

Nominator: Sue Cunningham, chairwoman of the Delaware Soil and Water Conservation District board of supervisors.

Leadership: Jim was a founding member of the Upper Big Walnut Creek Water Quality Partnership in 1996 and remains active with the group. He is also a member of the Porter Township Zoning Board, serves as a representative on the Delaware County Regional Planning Commission and served on the Delaware Soil and Water Conservation District board of supervisors from 1985 through 2012. The Shermans are members of the Delaware County Farm Bureau and are active in the Buckeye Allis Club.

Community outreach: The family regularly displays Allis-Chalmers antique farm equipment at local festivals and the Farm Science Review. The farm has hosted tours for Ohio State students studying engineering, as well as students studying environmental and natural resources. USDA representatives, local elected officials, and supervisors from the Ohio Federation of Soil and Water Conservation Districts have also toured the farm.