Released: October 09, 2002

Neodesha Farmers Named 2002 Family of the Year

Pictured at right: Bottom, Dana (holding grandson Jonathan), Joe and Jackie Newland; top, Tyler, Alicia, Hannah, Justin and Wade Newland.

NEODESHA, Kan. – Depending on the time of year, acres of sunflowers, wheat, corn, soybeans or pasture greet visitors to Joe and Dana Newland’s farm northeast of Neodesha.

It’s clear very quickly that this is a successful farm. Nearby, some of the operation’s 300 cow-calf pairs – mostly Angus or Limousin cattle – mingle in neatly-kept pens. A strong, clean storage shed holds farm equipment and a small office; around back, there are fertilizer tanks, storage bins and a semi truck for shipping grain – all in their place, and all seemingly ready for a useful purpose.

But 7-year-old daughter Jackie has her own perspective of the farm’s greater values.

"Most kids living in town," she says, "don’t get to have a swimming pool. And I think it’s kind of fun to let your puppy run around outside. You can’t do that in town."

While Jackie’s view of success is less complex than managing farm economics, it’s a statement about the perspectives of this family, which for nearly three decades has mixed good farming and strong rural values. "We have been more successful in family than we’ve been in farming," says Joe Newland. "We have been blessed."

The Newland’s success soon will bring them an unprecedented honor for their county. On Oct. 29-30, they’ll be recognized by the Kansas City Women’s Chamber of Commerce as the Kansas Farm Management Association’s (KFMA) Family of the Year.

The family will be the guests of honor during a luncheon on Oct. 29, and during Governor’s Night at the American Royal on Oct. 30, when they will receive their award.

The Newlands are the first farm family ever from Wilson County to receive KFMA’s Family of the Year award, which has been given since 1955.

The Kansas Farm Management Association assists farmers and ranchers with economic and financial risk management for improved profitability. It has been recognizing farm families since 1955. KFMA is managed by Kansas State University’s Department of Agricultural Economics and K-State Research and Extension.

"Our family is obviously the most important part of how everything on the farm works," said Justin Newland, Joe and Dana’s oldest son and a senior at Kansas State University majoring in agricultural education. "Before I was born, Mom and Dad were doing it all themselves; Mom driving the truck, Dad doing the farming [with help from hired hands that Dana says ‘some of which were like family’]. As we got older, we were able to help out."

After Justin (age 22), the Newlands’ other children are Wade, 21, a junior at Kansas State; Tyler, 18, a freshman at Independence (Kan.) Community College; and Jackie, 7. In their own ways, each of the children are successful and active: the boys have won local, district and national awards and traveled internationally through their involvement in Future Farmers of America. Jackie is just getting started in 4-H and wants to show pigs and horses.

Dana has been clerk of the local school board for 15 years and is a member of the area’s Arts Center board. Joe is in his fourth year as a member of the school board, and also 10th year on the board of the Wilson County Farm Service Agency. Both are active in the Catholic church, 4-H and FFA.

"We are a close family, which makes it enjoyable being home," said Wade, who is studying animal science at K-State. "Everyone works together; if you didn’t, you couldn’t farm together because you don’t ever get away from them on the farm."

Adds Dana: "When the kids are home [from school] they spend time here visiting with us. I think it’s the supreme compliment to parents when kids want to stay around the home."

Joe Newland is candid – if not just simply proud – about how this now-thriving farm made it through the 1980s farm crisis. Both he and Dana worked off the farm to keep the operation going. "We were broke and I was too stubborn to know it," he says. "But that’s all I ever wanted to do."

Today, the farm spans 4,400 acres of crop and pasture land (they own 1,200 acres and rent the rest). Joe says this year’s soybeans look like they could be "as good as last year, or better." The sunflowers have spread their vivid, yellow hue and if the area doesn’t receive a frost before late October, they could produce a good crop, as well.

"The farm’s successful because we’ve been very progressive," Tyler said. "Since the time I was young, there have been a lot of changes around here – machinery, management practices and even the house." The family’s current dining room "used to be a garage," he adds.

Charlie Wilken, an economist with KFMA who helps the Newlands with on-farm planning, said the family’s open-minded approach is one reason for their success. Recently, the Newland Farm developed a partnership with a younger neighbor, David Bosch, forming a company called Heritage Farms, LLC.

"We did that for several reasons," Wilken said. "First, it protected both David and the Newlands. But it also brought together two families with different assets that each will benefit from. Plus, we think it will allow Joe and Dana to retire out of farming."

It was also a way "to keep David going," Joe said, "and to keep someone else around besides me who has a vested interest in the farm."

Joe’s newest emphasis is to find innovative ways to improve the farm’s soil profile. He’s slowly adopting global positioning technology, currently mapping all fields for yield but also hoping to develop grids for soil sampling. He hopes to sample about 2,000 acres in the near future.

"It’s amazing the amount of hours that Dad puts into the farm," Wade said. "The farm’s been successful because he works so hard at it; he doesn’t let anything go just halfway [done]."

Still, there’s time to enjoy simple pleasures: "In the morning, just after the sun comes up," Joe says, "you look out west over this field, and it’s just really beautiful out there. I still really enjoy that."

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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.

Story by:
Pat Melgares, News Coordinator
pmelgare@oznet.ksu.edu
K-State Research& Extension News