Kontact Winter 2018 issue
By Tom Parker In February of 1979, thousands of disgruntled farmers flooded the streets of Washington D.C. with an estimated 900 tractors and hundreds of support vehicles. The uniquely American protest was organized by the American Agriculture Movement, whose members felt that government and industry leaders were out of touch with the needs of [...]
KFU proudly honors the legacy of Ruth Hirsh through its award in her name which is presented to an individual who has made a significant contribution to agriculture and the efforts of the Farmers Union. Hirsh was a strong advocate for a viable education program in Farmers Union; not only for the children, but also [...]
By Tom Parker As a member of the planning committee for the 2017 Kansas Farmers Union convention, she was instrumental in combining a diverse assortment of speakers, discussions and forums ranging from policy, personal narrative, history and art into a thematic whole, minus the thematic. “Your convention planning team is philosophically opposed to [...]
Before getting into the issues of drafting a new farm bill during tough economic times as Congress is expected to do next year, Bill Spiegel offered his guest panelists the opportunity to draw up their own personal list of things they would like to see included, sort of a Christmas wish list whispered into Santa’s [...]
Senate & House Pass Tax Plan with Few Benefits for Family Farmers Just days before its Christmas recess, Congress passed its sweeping plan for tax reform, putting most of its provisions into effect at the top of 2018. Here’s what changed: the top individual tax rate and the corporate tax rate were both lowered, from [...]
By TOM PARKER What might have been a fairly routine update on agricultural legislation and the 2018 farm bill was overshadowed by the U.S. Senate’s promise to ramrod through a tax reform bill that would add an estimated $1.47 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, provide corporate America unprecedented tax cuts, and enrich [...]
By SEAN GATEWOOD The Kansas Legislative session is moving right along now. The big issue is K-12 school finance. The Supreme Court has ruled the current funding formula unconstitutionally inadequate and unequitable. This is a decade plus long battle and will require new money being spent on schools. This issue is what is shaping the [...]
