Joseph H. Stepp, III has served on the Hanover-Caroline SWCD Board of Directors since the year 2000. He holds multiple degrees as a graduate of N.C. State University and the University of Mary Washington. Mr. Stepp served as an active duty officer in the United States Army for 20 years followed by 12 years of service in the Army Reserve. Joe has always been a strong advocate of conservation. Before moving to Virginia in 1985, he farmed in western North Carolina with his father and brother and served on the Henderson SWCD. Since 1986, Joe and his wife, Suzanne, have farmed her family's Racefield Farm, a Virginia Century Farm, on the banks of the Rappahannock River in Caroline County. They have been the recipients of the 1995 Award of Merit for Conservation and the 2003 Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Farm Award.