The cover photo, featuring a Summer Fun Farm Tour participant, was taken by Tom Parker at Green Thumbs Up Produce, a small-scale vegetable farm owned and operated by two young growers, Austin Reynolds and John Edmonds. Beside leaf vegetables and 30 to 40 varieties of tomatoes, the two produce specialty colored peppers, berries, peaches, green beans, radishes, pumpkins, decorative gourds and cucumbers, among others on their Leavenworth County farms.
Photo credit: Tom Parker
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November 2016
We’ve done a lot in KFU since our last issue of the Kontact. One of our best was an event series I’m pretty darn proud of, we partnered up with the Kansas Farmer Veterans Coalition and a whole host of other supporters and sponsors to conduct the Summer Fun Farm Tour Series, 3 tours in August aimed toward offering veterans considering entering farming and beginning farmers an opportunity to experience [...]
2016 KFU State Convention Set for Dec 7-8 in Wichita
Kansas Farmers Union, the state’s oldest active general farm organization, will hold its annual convention at the Hotel at Old Town, Wichita, December 7-8, 2016.This year’s theme is Helping Communities Help Themselves. In addition to addressing rural healthcare access and expanding direct marketing opportunities, conference sessions will focus on exploring past and present farm crises to seek proactive strategies to help rural communities thrive despite a tough ag economy.Registration for [...]
Farm Aid 2016
Bolstered by National Farmers Union (NFU) and Farm Aid, 275 family farmers uniting in September at the U.S. Capitol to ask for emergency assistance and increased funding to address the harsh economic realities brought on by historically low prices and too high production costs. Both organizations cautioned that America’s farmers and ranchers can’t afford to wait until after the November elections for relief. They are asking Congress for emergency assistance [...]
National Farmers Union Fly-In 2016
The annual National Farmers Union Washington D.C. Fly-In is the very definition of grassroots politics. This three-day event draws Farmers Union members from states as far as Alaska and Hawaii to meet with top officials of the USDA and, more importantly, their elected state representatives. The goal of these meetings is to remind those in D.C. of the issues their farming and rural constituents face back home. This year’s event [...]
Returning to the Land: Diversification, family, and community lay foundation for success
By Tom Parker Jay Schwinn was living the American dream as a Merrill Lynch executive when the entire U.S. financial sector imploded in 2008. After being bought out, he called his brother, Joe, asking if he could use a partner on his small vegetable farm outside Leavenworth, Kan. His brother, while apologetic, was firm: no way could they could grow enough vegetables to support the two of [...]