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Wiebe elected to FSA committee

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Written by Bill Harmon Tuesday, 10 January 2012 15:24

Ballot tabulation for the 2011 Farm Service Agency County Committee election resulted in Hillsboro-area producer Clark Wiebe being elected to serve a three-year term, beginning this month.

Wiebe joins other committee members Eldon Andres of rural Peabody and Monty Stuchlik of rural Lost Springs on the 2012 Marion County FSA Committee.

Wiebe succeeds Marvin Ratzlaff, who recently completed the limit of nine years service on the committee.

Farmer-elected county FSA committees serve as a vital link in the effective administration of USDA-related programs. Committees are responsible for carrying out federal farm programs in accordance with national guidelines and directives.

Duties include:

• Meeting periodically to make policy...

Farmers have concerns about some of Brownback’s economic initiatives

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Written by John Schlageck Tuesday, 03 January 2012 15:02

Agriculture in Kansas has always been about people—farmers and ranchers who share the same vocation, although perhaps different commodity interests and sometimes with a slightly different political bent.

Dedicated members of various farm organizations have always come together under the common bond of unity and spoken with strength on behalf of their ag industry while maintaining their independent farm and ranch lifestyle.

Farm organizations, including Farm Bureau, epitomize this. Steeped in a tradition of strong, active leadership, this group of agricultural advocacy volunteers has made this organization a dynamic voice for agriculture year after year.

Members number nearly 40,000 active farmers and ranchers, who live in different...

Farming: A most honorable way to live

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Written by John Schlageck Tuesday, 20 December 2011 20:43

Think of farmers and ranchers and this old, often forgotten tribute comes to mind. It fits farmers like seed in the soil or ranchers like a newborn calf takes to its mother’s udder.

I’ve often heard friends, neighbors and family—my dad for one—quote bits and pieces of it. I’ve heard others refer to it at meetings, in church, at a sale barn, funerals and many other places where rural people live, work and congregate. It exemplifies the farm and ranch vocation. It goes something like the following.

*?*?*

A man’s greatest possession is his dignity and no calling bestows this more abundantly than farming. Hard work and honest sweat are the building blocks of a person’s character.

Farming and ranching, despite its hardships...

Recent moisture won’t end the year’s drought

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Written by Don Ratzlaff Tuesday, 20 December 2011 20:41

The emerging land areas in the middle of French Creek Cove, not to mention the lack of lake water around the boat dock, illustrate the impact of drought. Lake rangers lowered the reservoir in December 2010 to protect the shoreline from the ravages of breaking ice. The drought not only kept the lake from refilling, it dropped the conservation pool by another foot. It’s hardly news to anyone living in Marion County that 2011 has been a dry year. State officials who monitor the weather have declared it’s been a significantly dry year.

Marion County sits among the tier of counties that forms the northern edge of the “drought emergency” area that spans most of the state’s southern half.

According to state climatologist Mary Knapp at Kansas State University, Marion County has received between 7 and 8 inches below the annual norm so far in 2011, depending on where you live.

She said the rainfall Marion County received Dec. 12 to 13—around 0.70 inches—helped at some level, but hasn’t changed the bigger picture.

“It depends on what kind of use you’re looking at,” Knapp said...

Marion-Florence FFAer takes proficiency to highest level

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Written by Don Ratzlaff Tuesday, 15 November 2011 16:06

“I?grew up on the ranch my whole life, so I knew what needed to be done,” says Adam Cope. “I acted more as a full-time employee. I did everything.” You don’t need to ask Adam Cope what it means to be “proficient.” He’s proven it in a big way.

The 2011 Marion High School graduate from Florence was recognized last month for being one of the top four performers among his FFA peers across the entire country in the area of Beef Production-Placement.

He and the national finalists in the 46 other proficiency program areas were recognized on stage before some 55,000 fellow attenders at the 84th annual national convention Oct. 19-22 in Indianapolis, Ind.

“It was a great experience to be recognized at such a high level,” said Cope, now a freshman at Kansas State University.

The proficiency awards recognize outstanding student achievement in agribusiness gained through...