By Doug Rich

A group of Kansas farmers painted a bleak picture of agriculture in Kansas and the condition of rural communities in the state during a panel discussion at the University of Kansas April 14.

Thanks to a grant from the CHS Foundation, Kansas University and the Kansas Farmers Union co-sponsored the agricultural conference entitled "Farmers, Food, and Rural communities in the 21st Century." The farmers and ranchers on the panel were Pete Farrell, Lisa French, Tom Giessel, Laura Fortmeyer, Dan Nagengast, and Nancy Vogelsberg-Busch.

Pete Farrell described the area where he lives in the Flint Hills as a rural ghetto. "That means people are so poor they cannot leave," he said. When he makes decisions on his ranch Farrell said he uses the "Seven Generations Rule." He looks back seven generations and ahead seven generations to assess the impact of his decision.

A rural population that is getting older and the loss of population to urban centers is have a devastating impact on rural communities in Kansas, according to Tom Giessel, who farms 7,000 acres in partnership with his brother in western Kansas. He said many people in that aging population in rural communities are mired in poverty.

Stewardship of the land is necessary to keep the land productive and farming profitable. "You cannot just let it go natural," said Lisa French. "It needs to be tended." Although she sees farm subsidies as a problem, French said she believes more money needs to be spent on stewardship programs such as the Conservation Security Program.

"Eating is a moral act," according to Laura Fortmeyer. People can make their feelings about food security and quality by the way they spend their food dollar. Fortmeyer said she is suspect of everything in supermarkets. She and her husband raise sheep on their farm in northeast Kansas.

Sarah Vogelsberg-Busch is an organic producer who custom finishes her own cattle, sells them direct to her customers, and markets her own brand of hot dogs. She also works a second job at a local factory to provide health insurance for her family. "I don't want to turn my farm into a factory like the one I work at in town," she said.

Vogelsberg-Busch said our forefathers made a mistake when they tore up the prairie in the Flint Hills. She is seeding as much of her farm as possible back to grass and is opposed to the development of wind farms in the Flint Hills. Before she returned to her family's farm, Vogelsberg-Busch was a social worker at several locations around the country. "The greatest poverty is on farms in Kansas," she said.

"Agriculture was a large part of the Kansas economy until we decided that farming was just a way to accumulate wealth," said Dan Nagengast, an organic farmer in Douglas County, Kan. Not unlike Wal-Mart, Nagengast said agriculture has started to externalize the costs and concentrate the benefits. "I think it is a model that will be rejected. A new kind of person is interested in agriculture today."

The conference concluded with a lecture entitled "The Industrial Ideal in American Agriculture" by Deborah Fitzgerald, president of the Agricultural History Society.

Doug Rich can be reached by phone at 785-749-5304 or by e-mail at Richhpj@aol.com.

Date: 4/21/05