Kansas Beginning Farmers Coalition invites beginning farmers and ranchers of all ages to the Kansas Beginning Farmer Day, Saturday, December 6 at Four Points by Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan, KS. The event is being held in conjunction with Kansas Farmers Union’s annual convention, December 4-5. More information on KFU’s convention can be found elsewhere in [...]
Kansas Farmers Union and Kansas Beginning Farmers Coalition will host a Central Kansas Family Farm Specialty Products Tour, on Saturday, October 11 in the McPherson and Newton, KS areas. KFU and KBFC representatives were very impressed by the diverse number of producers and products available in central Kansas, and felt it would be an ideal [...]
by Tom Parker, guest writer Richard Wiswall likes numbers. In that he might be an anomaly among farmers, at least where the numbers are concerned. Some of his numbers involve planting rates and seed inventory, tractor hours, and labor costs—categories most farmers are familiar with—but he takes things a step further—okay, many steps further—by calculating, [...]
by Tom Parker, guest writer People get into farming for a number of reasons, but nobody gets into farming because they love running a business. The business side of farming is often disliked, distrusted and delayed, often with disastrous results, according to Richard Wiswall, author of The Organic Farmer’s Business Handbook and co-owner of Cate [...]
By Tom Parker, guest writer Farmers, like any business or corporation, have certain expectations of employees. Some of those expectations are reasonable-honesty, integrity, punctuality, a strong work ethic-while others border on wishful thinking. A major source of conflict, and something often heard by Richard Wiswall, a farming consultant and author of The Organic Farmer’s Business [...]
By Tom Parker MCPHERSON, KS – Successful farming is all about timing, and for John and Karen Pendleton of rural Lawrence their start in farming couldn’t have been more auspicious. It was, everyone said, one of the best years for agriculture they’d ever experienced. Fields were green and lush from plentiful rains that turned crops [...]
