Richard Lyons Farm in Illinois: History, What It Grows, How It Makes Money and How to Contact It
Profile updated November 2026
Richard Lyons Farm near Harvel in Montgomery County, Illinois, won the 2024 Illinois Leopold Conservation Award, presented with a $10,000 prize at the Illinois State Fair on August 9. The farm grows corn and soybeans in the watershed of a creek that drains into Lake Lou Yaeger, a source of drinking water for about 10,000 county residents. Lyons also taught agriculture for 37 years as a high school and college instructor.
| Location | Harvel, Montgomery County, Illinois |
|---|---|
| Founded | Farmed with his late father; start date not published |
| Sectors | Corn, soybeans and cover crops |
| Scale | Acreage not published |
| Why it is elite | 2024 Illinois Leopold Conservation Award winner |
| Ownership | Operated by Richard Lyons |
| Official website | Illinois Leopold Conservation Award announcement (Illinois Corn) |
History of Richard Lyons Farm
Richard Lyons farmed with his father, and his conservation ethic developed after his father died. He combined farming with a long teaching career, spending 37 years as an agriculture instructor at high school and college level.
Because his creek feeds Lake Lou Yaeger, the drinking water supply for roughly 10,000 county residents, protecting water quality has been a central goal of his management. The Leopold award recognized that record in 2024, the second year of the Illinois program.
What Richard Lyons Farm Grows and Raises
Lyons grows corn and soybeans and has used rye, oats and radish cover crops since 2012, adding winter barley and Austrian winter peas since 2019. He chisel plows cornstalks instead of using a moldboard plow and plants corn no-till into soybean stubble.
Water protection is built into the fields. He has stabilized streambank with large rock, installed filter strips between farmland and the creek, farms on the contour, and takes soil tests every three years to guide variable-rate fertilizer. A two-acre triangular parcel was converted to pollinator habitat, and he leads a soil health training program for other farmers.
How Richard Lyons Farm Makes Money
Corn and soybeans
Grain from corn and soybean acres is the commodity income stream. The announcement does not publish acreage or yields, so this page makes no estimate.
Teaching and training
Lyons spent 37 years teaching agriculture, and he runs a soil health training program. Education has been a major part of his career as a trained agricultural instructor.
Award and conservation support
The Leopold award included a $10,000 prize. Practices such as filter strips and streambank work are the kind that conservation programs from NRCS and local soil and water districts commonly support.
Farm Insight: What Other Operators Can Learn from Richard Lyons Farm
The first lesson is that cover crop mixes can be tried in small steps and expanded. Lyons used rye, oats and radish from 2012 and added winter barley and peas later, which let him learn before changing the whole system.
The second is to link farm practices to a community benefit. Protecting a drinking water source gives a farm a story that neighbors and local officials understand, and teaching others multiplies the effect of one farm.
A man who taught agriculture for 37 years has surely graded some very creative excuses about missing homework and wet fields. At farm.FM the farm satire crew would give his cover crop mix top marks. We keep the farm humor and ranch humor kind, with a few farm jokes about radishes that refuse to be the star of the rotation.
For context, farm.FM is the nation's first satirical farm site and the home of Tractor Tunes, country music for farmers. Its contributors each keep an archive, and this one is a good sampler of ranch humor and farm jokes.
How to Contact Richard Lyons Farm
Website: https://www.ilcorn.org/richard-lyons-receives-illinois-leopold-conservation-award
No official farm website was found in November 2026, so this is the award announcement. Contact the Illinois Corn Growers Association or Sand County Foundation for award inquiries.
Richard Lyons Farm Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- Illinois Corn announcement - Producer group release on the 2024 award
- Sand County Foundation - Award sponsor announcement
- USDA NASS Illinois Census - 2022 state-level farm statistics
- Illinois Farm Bureau - State farm organization
- FSA Illinois state office - Farm programs and loans
Richard Lyons Farm FAQ
Where is Richard Lyons Farm?
It is near Harvel in Montgomery County, Illinois.
What award did Richard Lyons win?
He received the 2024 Illinois Leopold Conservation Award, which includes $10,000.
What does the farm grow?
Corn and soybeans, with cover crops including rye, oats, radish, winter barley and Austrian winter peas.
Why does water quality matter here?
His creek drains into Lake Lou Yaeger, which supplies drinking water to about 10,000 county residents.
Richard Lyons Farm shows how steady soil and water work can make a Montgomery County grain farm a statewide example. For more on Illinois soils, markets and programs, read our Illinois guide and the other profiled operations.