As this year has progressed we in agriculture have been given the opportunity to have our hopes risen on the news that the current administration is going to aggressively tackle a lot of the issues that we in Farmers Union have been fighting to change for many years –corporate concentration, especially in the livestock industry, [...]
Welp, I’ve re-written this President’s Report three times already trying to share with you what is in my mind and my soul. Let’s try this one… I have filed as a candidate for the position of president for the National Farmers Union. This sounds simple, but it isn’t. I waffled a long time over [...]
DELEGATE CREDENTIALING Our state convention is rapidly approaching. It’s going to be in Lawrence at the Double Tree by Hilton December 4th and 5th. As the years have gone by, we have gotten very casual about our credentialing of delegates being seated for the business meeting and the creation of the coming year’s policy of [...]
The following op-ed ran in the Topeka Capital Journal on October 30. It’s been a few weeks since the announcement that Mercy Hospital in Fort Scott will close by the end of the year. The residents of Fort Scott and surrounding communities are now confronted with the same grim realities faced by other communities, including [...]
THE INDUSTRIAL HEMP MEETINGS SCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER 17-19 HAVE BEEN TEMPORARILY POSTPONED DUE TO WEATHER DELAYS WITH FLAMAN'S HARVEST SCHEDULE. Get updates on the Events page. HEMP I have a long-time farmer friend, Rod Flaman, from Regina Saskatchewan who farms a bunch of acres up there in Canada. One of his crops is Hemp. He’s [...]
The family farmer loses again…the trashing of the Farmer Fair Practice Rule When Secretary of Agriculture Perdue announced that the USDA will move forward with trashing the newly implemented “Farmer Fair Practice Rule” I feel he sent a clear message to America that the USDA is solely on the side of the four major [...]
Hi, just a few comments, I don’t want to take up precious space in this Kontact with my ramblings…. Sean did a really good job reviewing our legislative session this year in Topeka. He does a really good job for us. One tidbit of gossip I want to share is that I heard through [...]
Steve Anderson Advocacy for rural America has lost a true champion. Steve Anderson, of Alma Kansas, was killed in a farm accident. Steve was the real deal. Where I have to temper my passion he flung it out in force. His most recent being a passionate, and accurate, letter to the editor of the [...]
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 [...]
This is a melancholy presidents report. Callie is moving on to a wonderful opportunity. Through my many years with Kansas Farmers Union I have had the great privilege of working with 3 truly talented and capable office managers, Marylyn, Debbie, and Callie. Each time one moved on we wondered how in the world we could [...]
