Delegates to the 2018 State Convention adopted seven Special Orders of Business during policy debate. The orders address a wide range of concerns, from healthcare and mental health services to the rural economy and beginning farmer support. New orders include:
- On the rural economy, members connect grain surpluses from over-production and high crop yields to historically new low levels of the parity ratio and call for a program of supply management and implementation of a publicly-funded farmer owned reserve.
- On healthcare, members support the establishment of a nationwide single-payer system and the expansion of Medicaid in Kansas: “Any further delay in implementing Medicaid expansion in Kansas only contributes to the accelerated economic decay of the rural healthcare infrastructure of the state.”
- In support of a Statewide Agriculture Counseling and Assistance Program, members believe the unprecedented, all-time low commodity prices have created undue stress on individuals, families, communities, and the economy and urge immediate action by the Kansas Legislature to enact legislation creating a program similar to the highly successful Farmers Assistance Counseling and Training Services (FACTS) program of the 1980s.
Tom Giessel reads policy recommendations and Olivia Taylor-Puckett updates the document. Gladys & John Rempe of Nemaha County review proposed 2019 policy changes.
Preamble
Kansas Farmers Union empowers and engages family farmers, ranchers, and communities through organization, education, cooperation and legislation.
The Kansas Farmers Union takes pride in defining our policy. We believe policy should address the needs of people. The moral and ethical decisions made by individuals and governments have an impact on our daily lives, and on the lives of future generations. Recognizing that fact, our policy strives to assure those decisions maintain a just and ethical basis.
Our policy also addresses the use of our natural resources and environment with the same fervor. We must not allow greed, ignorance, or carelessness to bring about exploitation of our natural resources, or of our fellow man.
We believe family ownership and maintaining family farms will preserve natural and human resources, and contribute to climate stability.
