With enough swine to require their own government-monitored wastewater treatment plant and a herd of cattle besides, Smith-Healy Farms conserves soil and water for business reasons and from feelings of stewardship, not to win awards. But the Ogeechee River Soil and Water Conservation District recently saluted Smith-Healy with the Bulloch County Conservationist of the Year award. "We as farmers, we on this farm and as a community of farmers nationwide, are very cognizant of conservation agriculture, of doing things in a way so that we can conserve the soil, because we can see how in just a generation or two we almost lost our cropland," said Bill Smith.