Excerpt
I have been involved in soil and water conservation for nearly 50 years. My interest in this subject was kindled as a child when I was brought up on a small, mixed farm in rural Australia. At agricultural college I was deeply impressed by the soil conservation staff that we met—by their enthusiasm, professionalism, and obvious dedication to what they were doing.
This fired me with my own enthusiasm, and immediately after graduating I joined my state soil conservation service and was fortunate enough to be appointed as a field officer and to be able to work directly with farmers. So started my professional career.
Soon I was lucky enough to be placed on the planning team of Australia's first large-scale watershed project. We had the technology to get the job done but quickly realized the scheme would only succeed if we could gain the trust and support of the farming community. We therefore had the opportunity to develop some new and innovative ways of effectively involving the farmers in the whole process of planning and implementing what needed doing. Over the years these ideas were further developed and have been used in the much-publicized …
Footnotes
Hugh Hammond Bennett Award recipient. Sanders is former united Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) administrator and was one of the founders of the World Association of Soil and Water Conservation (WASWC). His accomplishments include introducing modern agricultural techniques into the low rainfall areas of Jordan, addressing severe gully erosion in Lesotho, and working for soil conservation and sustainability in many other parts of the world. He currently resides in Bristol, England.
- Copyright 2007 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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