Kansas is an agrarian state. Always has been. Always will be. Our climate and our geography make this state a great place to grow crops and raise livestock. And as much as other things in agriculture and rural Kansas are changing, this won’t.  A century from now, Kansas farms will be larger and the equipment will be more efficient, but wheat will still be drilled in the fall and calves will be born in the spring.

Those crops and livestock will be more specialized to meet specific global consumer demand. But it will still be agriculture.  And I suspect those 22nd century farm and ranch families will look back to 2008 with the same fondness that we look back and appreciate our heritage and tradition.

We started our Century Farm recognition nine years ago. We were looking for a creative way to honor the family farming legacy within our organization as we approached a new century.  What better way than to honor and recognize the families where the farm has remained in the same family for 100 years or more?

We knew these farms existed, we simply didn’t know how many. Honestly, the intent was to offer the Century Farm awards one year and move on.  Like so many good and worthy ideas, this one took on a life of its own. As folks heard and read about Farm Bureau’s Century Farm recognition, they realized their farm fit the criteria. More than that, and typical of our membership, folks knew a neighbor down the road or a family across the county who fit the bill. To date, more than 2,000 Farm Bureau families in Kansas have been honored.

There is so much history and heritage associated with this profession of ours. It’s uniquely American and here in Kansas it’s as rich and vibrant as anywhere in the country.  Intertwined with the history of farming and agriculture is the story of Farm Bureau in Kansas. Of course, I’m way too close to it to be objective, but I’m proud of my farm organization’s leadership role in advocating for farm families throughout the years and decades.

As our industry changes and adapts, so too has our farm organization. My father and grandfather would scratch their heads in wonderment over things like carbon credits, animal identification and the need to preserve our hometowns.

Times change. Society evolves. We adapt and change to be a reflection of that evolution. Not to do so would make Farm Bureau irrelevant in the lives of our members.

On the other hand, there are some constants. Safety on the farm was and remains a key component of your farm organization’s body of work. There’s the policy advocacy. While the specific issues change and evolve, the grassroots process by which those issues are arrived at remains rock solid.

There’s a generation of farmers in Kansas who won’t be with us much longer. These are the men and women who built our industry and built our organization. We owe them a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid.