'Conservationist of the Year' award goes to Iowa couple.

The "Conservationist of the Year" award was presented to Mark and JoAnn Jackson during the Commodity Classic in Las Vegas. Present at the awards banquet are: (l to r) Ron Heck, ASA president; Mark Jackson, National Conservation Legacy Award winner; Robb Fraley, executive vice president and chief technology officer for Monsanto; and Greg Lamp, editor of The Corn & Soybean Digest.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The American Soybean Association, St. Louis, named Mark and JoAnn Jackson of Rose Hill, Iowa, as "Conservationist of the Year." The Jacksons were selected from four regional winners as part of ASA's 2004 Conservation Legacy Awards Program, a national program designed to recognize the outstanding environmental and conservation achievements of U.S. soybean farmers. The program is sponsored also by Monsanto and The Corn and Soybean Digest. Mark and JoAnn, who are the fifth generation to operate Jackson Farms in Rose Hill, use a number of methods to conserve their land, including terraces, waterways, buffer strips and travel zones. The couple also established a forest reserve adjoining their farmland in 1982.