We hear it all the time. Farm Bureau represents family farmers. We’re a family farm organization.  In this country, the family farm is viewed sentimentally as a lifestyle to be preserved for the sake of tradition. It’s a birthright. We make this case in Washington, in debate and discussion of farm policy.

Problem is, those arguments only work if those making them can argue from some semblance of personal experience.  Increasingly, with shifting populations and demographics, those with a legitimate claim on that argument are fewer and further between.

The “ideal” of the family farm is a fading memory. Generations ago, farm families were large out of necessity. They needed the extra hands!  Today, more often than not, Mom and Dad each work full or part-time off the farm and generally speaking, the kids don’t come home to farm after college.

Yet despite the new dynamics, it’s still a family farm. Maybe it’s like modern art – beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Take me, for example. My kids are grown and have shown no inclination of a return home to take over the farm. Pat and I don’t begrudge them that – we raised them to be independent thinkers.  Yet, as I pick corn and drill wheat this fall, I still think of myself as a family farmer.  That has more to do with how I was raised than the actual number of my family who currently live in our home and work on our farm.

Are family farms the basis of rural society and social stability? Do we need to take extraordinary measures to protect them?  That opens a whole new can of worms related to how you define that protection.  I’m fairly certain government policy is not the answer.

As an organization, we recognize and honor 10 farm families each year, one for each of our geographic districts. Many of our individual 105 county Farm Bureau organizations do the same. Those families are honored based on their community involvement, farming history, current operation, Farm Bureau involvement and vision for the future.

That’s what the Winter '09 issue of Kansas Living is all about. In this edition, you’ll find a Farm Bureau family featured around every one of those characteristics.  In this job, I spend a lot of time thinking about the future. There’s not a doubt in my mind that family farming and ranching as you and I perceive it today will look dramatically different a couple of generations from now.

We’re a family farm organization, not only because it describes our membership but because it reflects our culture and heritage.  Nothing means more to me than my family. Close behind, is my family farm even though my family no longer lives there.  Yet I have comfort and peace of mind in knowing that every individual member of my family is stronger – and their lives are richer – because they grew up there.