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Noted Kansas ag leader steps down
By Mary Lou Peter
K-State Research and Extension
Kansas
It was a simple plan: Grow up on a Pennsylvania farm. Go to college. Work in a field where background and education help convey knowledge to others.
But Barry Flinchbaugh's career has been anything but simple.
The longtime advisor to secretaries of agriculture, senators, members of Congress and Kansas governors, not to mention untold numbers of farmers, ranchers, legislators and business owners, stepped down from his role as Kansas State University's Extension state leader for agricultural economics June 3.
Flinchbaugh, who will turn 62 this year, will continue to teach his Agriculture Policy class, a favorite with K-State students for 34 years. He will work with Kansas legislators on the next farm bill and with K-State's Alumni Association. He intends to do some speaking engagements and will work with the Kansas Congressional delegation, the Kansas Agriculture and Rural Leadership (KARL) Program and a Wheat seminar group. He also is helping to form a Wheat council aimed at getting the Wheat industry under one umbrella.
Flinchbaugh began working in Extension in 1963 as a summer intern in Luzerne County, Penn., while an undergraduate student in animal science at Penn State. After graduation, he returned to Luzerne County to work as an agriculture Extension agent.
"I've often said, 'I loved that job.' There's nothing more valuable in a farm community than a good county agent. That's really the backbone of the system," he said. "I often joke that I'd still be an ag agent in Luzerne County if it hadn't been for the 4-H horse clubs."
In 1968, he earned a master's degree from Penn State in agricultural economics. He earned a Ph.D. in agricultural economics at Purdue University in 1971 before landing a job with K-State Research and Extension as a public affairs specialist.
"I didn't want to come to Kansas ... Kansas was the other side of the world," he said. "I said 'I'll stay three years, and then I'll go home.'"
But after more than 30 years in Manhattan--where he and his wife, Cathy, raised three children and where his mother now resides--there's no "going back" for Flinchbaugh.
"If you're really going to do ag policy, where better to do it than in the heart of agriculture?" he said of his career in Kansas.
The venerable agricultural economist is well known for his presentation style, which weaves humor and real-life stories into straight talk about the topic at hand. He credits a Penn State speech instructor--Miss Savage--for helping him develop that style.
"She came into class the very first day and wrote on the board 'A light moment every seven minutes,' " he said, and it's advice he's ascribed to in the countless presentations he's given over the years.
Miss Savage also encouraged her students to have "an uncomfortable moment every seven minutes"--something that Flinchbaugh learned to do in a direct manner, but with sound data to back up what he says.
"I want them to have fun while they're learning. But I also want them to be uncomfortable ... to think outside the box," Flinchbaugh said of his students, be they 20-year-olds taking classes for college credit or 50-year-olds running complex farming operations.
"Occasionally, you'll make somebody mad. That's one of the risks. But they'll remember what you said," he explained, noting that colleagues ask how he's able to tell audiences what they don't want to hear.
"It helps to have tenure," he smiled, but on a more serious note added, "The reason I get away with it is that I tell them 'I respect you too much to tell you what you want to hear.' I've never believed in sugarcoating or pulling their leg."
"A lot of people say I 'tell it like it is,'" he said, "but frankly, I don't know how it is. I do my homework. I'm prepared. But I tell it like I think it is."
Flinchbaugh believes that to be a successful agricultural educator, one must be a Jeffersonian.
"Jefferson said 'We'll educate them and respect their decisions.' You've got to believe deep in your bones that people will make the right decision," he said.
One of his proudest moments, the economist said, was in 1971-1974 when he worked on a farm tax issue. In that period he gave 300 presentations and visited all 105 counties in Kansas at least once.
Both sides of the issue in the Kansas legislature referred to his publication on the subject to prove their points.
To keep rural Kansas prosperous, Flinchbaugh believes that several things need to happen:
--Implement a broad-based tax system, which would provide critical mass.
--Make government more efficient, which means merging some counties and school districts.
"We can afford 60 counties and 120 school districts. Right now we have 105 counties and 304 school districts," he said, adding that the numbers are approximate, but the trend is critical. On the emotionally-charged subject of closing schools and merging districts, Flinchbaugh said: "We'll get merging of (school) districts when we can't man a football team."
--Strive toward value-added agriculture: "Rural Kansas basically has to build on agriculture that's there by adding value to their products," he said. Toward that end, Flinchbaugh believes farmers need to be active in farm organizations and constantly work to be the least-cost producer.
--Strive to add non-agricultural employment.
--Implement farm programs that are not tied to commodity price.
In addition, he noted that international customers buy one-third of what Kansas farmers produce.
"Either we figure out how to be consistently competitive in that world, or we close down a third of our agriculture production," the economist said.
He believes that the World Trade Organization (WTO) will eventually mandate that governments eliminate all farm subsidies tied to price.
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Flinchbaugh on various topics
Kansas
Longtime Kansas state Extension leader for agricultural economics, Barry Flinchbaugh, stepped down from that role June 3, but will stay on in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University to teach agricultural policy.
Here are his thoughts on several topics:
On family farms: "If the family doesn't treat it like a business, it won't survive as a family farm."
On sustainable agriculture: "If it's not profitable, it's not sustainable."
On Harry Truman: "My idol was Harry Truman, who said 'the only thing new is the history we haven't learned yet.'"
On being on Penn State's livestock judging team: "It made you make a decision and then defend it. I use that training every day."
On being an effective ag policy educator: "All I try to do is bring the factual information to people so that they make decisions on fact rather than mythology. You have to be Jeffersonian (educate people and let them make the decisions based on facts) and you've got to be non-partisan."
On the future of agriculture in rural Kansas: "For rural communities to survive, two things have to happen. We'll need a broad-based tax system and we have got to get out from under the crutch of having farm payments based on prices. I'm confident those two things will happen and if they do, rural Kansas will prosper. Kansas farmers will be competitive in the market and the best, brightest and most efficient will prosper."
On the "Kings and Kingmakers" presentation that he's given many times over the years: "Some people call it the Flinchbaugh model of political efficiency, but "Heavy" Kohlmeyer at Purdue is the one who taught me that. I've always called it the Kohlmeyer model."
------------SIEBAR----------
K-State Extension names next ag economics leader
Kansas
K-State professor of agricultural economics, James Mintert, has accepted a four-year appointment as the Extension state leader for agricultural economics now that Barry Flinchbaugh has stepped down. Mintert is the livestock marketing specialist with K-State Research and Extension.
In addition, K-State agricultural economists Art Barnaby and Brad Lubben and Kansas Farm Management administrator Sam Funk will continue to work in their respective fields as well as in agricultural policy.
Date: 6/24/04
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