Brian Alt of Jackson Township was recently elected to serve a three-year term on the Richland Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors and was sworn into office at the monthly board meeting on Tuesday evening.
Alt has been a life-long farmer and was raised on the family farm, which his parents moved to in 1958. Now he and his brother, Keith, farm the family’s 2,800 acres together full-time with help from their sons when needed. Each year they rotate planting corn and beans and haul the grain themselves in the winter.
Alt and his wife, Karen, have four children: Shawn (Jennie), Veronica Distl (Tyler), Alex and Austin and two grandchildren.
Alt is a member of Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic Church and is a member of the Knights of Columbus.
Alt is a firm believer in utilizing conservation practices in order to protect the environment. “In the long-term it will hurt the environment if we don’t follow conservation practices,” Alt said. Alt uses many conservation practices including installing tiling, filter strips and grassed waterways. “If you want to keep good topsoil, you need to work at it,” he shared, “‘and don’t apply manure and fertilizer on frozen ground, which causes run-off into streams and rivers.”
Alt joins current supervisors Matt Cook of Mifflin Township, Jim McKinney of Plymouth Township, Mike Switzer of Monroe Township, and Bob Winbigler of Worthington Township. The Richland Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors are publicly elected by a special general election held during the District’s annual meeting (generally held in the fall.) Each Supervisor is elected to three-year terms as public officials and serve without pay.
