Goodland Couple Honored 3/1/04

MANHATTAN, Kan. – In 1981, Gerald “Gerry” and Linda Franklin accepted an invitation to return to Linda’s family’s farm in Sherman County, Kan. The couple made a two-year commitment to try it. At the time, Gerry was working as the director of special education for the Hutchinson school district.

Twenty-three years later, the Franklins are being honored as members of the 2003 Class of Kansas Master Farmers and Master Farm Homemakers. Their award reflects leadership in agriculture, environmental stewardship and community service. The award program dates to 1927 and is sponsored by Kansas State University Research and Extension and Kansas Farmer Magazine.

Linda’s parents, Harlan (now deceased) and Freda were honored in the Class of 1983 Master Farmers and Master Farm Homemakers.

What is the Master Farmer and Master Farm Homemaker Program?

MANHATTAN, Kan. – It’s a growing, but select group – more than 350 Kansans who have been recognized for successes in their agricultural operations and service to their communities.

Who are they? They’re members of the Kansas Master Farmer Association and the Master Farm Homemakers Guild. The two groups were formed in the late 1920s to publicly recognize excellence in farming, homemaking, farm living, and rural citizenship.

Initially, the two organizations were sponsored by Kansas Farmer magazine, and recognition was given to individuals rather than couples.

In 1953, Kansas State University, through the Cooperative Extension Service, assumed responsibility for the selection process and setting up the annual banquet. From 1957 to 2003, the program was sponsored by the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and K-State Research and Extension. In 2004, however, Kansas Farmer magazine joined with Extension to co-sponsor the program.

Farm couples are nominated by county Extension councils and Extension districts. The associate director of Extension appoints a committee to choose one couple from each of the four Extension areas in the state, plus two additional couples at large.

Both groups – the Master Farmers and the Master Farm Homemakers hold an annual meeting and a joint recognition banquet in the spring, where members have the opportunity to discuss agricultural and rural issues and share individual experiences with other members. This year, the meetings and banquet will be held March 19 in Manhattan at the Manhattan Holidome. The groups also meet every year at the Kansas State Fair.

Master Farmer/Master Farm Homemaker couples are chosen for their past contributions to agriculture and their communities, but the giving doesn’t stop there. The group awards a $500 Master Farmer-Farm Homemaker 4-H scholarship every year to a high school senior or college undergraduate.

Numerous donations to the Rock Springs 4-H Center by Master Farmer individuals and the organization as a whole, are reflected in various facilities and improvements made at the sprawling center’s campus near Junction City, Kan.

This year, the Kansas organizations will also host their national meeting in Hays Aug. 18-20.

For more information on the Kansas Master Farmer/Master Farm Homemaker organizations, contact the K-State Research and Extension administrative office at 785-532-5820.

“We had been returning to help with harvest each year, and I found that there would be times when I would sit at my desk and wonder what was happening on the farm,” Gerry said.

“Farming is hard work, but the opportunity to work for ourselves was appealing. So was the opportunity to raise our children on the farm and close to family,” he said.

The couple met in high school. About 10 years later, when Gerry had completed military service and was working as a special education teacher in Wellington, Kan., a friend suggested that he write Linda a letter. At the time, she worked as a computer software design consultant in Houston. They married a year later.

A special education teacher might seem an unlikely candidate for a master farmer, but Gerry, who earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Southwestern College in Winfield, master’s degree in psychology and special education at Emporia State University and PhD in special education administration at Kansas State University, said that Linda’s father told him, “your education will never hurt you on the farm.”

Linda earned a degree in computer science from K-State, and the couple believe that the problem-solving skills they learned in their respective fields serve them well.

The couple currently manages 4,480 acres, a combination of land they own and rent. Of that, 1,600 acres are irrigated and 480 acres are identified as Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and “other” acres. Their crop production is largely wheat (1,290 dryland acres plus 300 acres that are irrigated). They also plant 60 acres in grain sorghum, 480 acres in corn, and 240 in sunflowers.

From 1986 to 1999, the couple finished anywhere from 130 to 950 head of cattle per year that they pastured on wheat pasture and corn stalks and fed high-moisture corn. Losses in the mid-90’s prompted them to stop feeding cattle and focus instead on growing corn. The decision is one that the couple said they are reconsidering.

The Franklins recently planted irrigated grain sorghum to see if it is a viable crop at their altitude.

“We have invested in Western Plains Energy, LLC, an ethanol plant in Campus, Kan. The plant will be using 10.7 million bushels of corn and/or milo and could prove to be another market for grain,” Gerry said.

The couple are charter members of the 21st Century Alliance, and, in addition to family, their farm management team includes a crop consultant, banker, accountant, market advisor, farm program specialist, crop insurance agents, and the University.

The Franklin’s management process has resulted in time- and cost-saving methods and environmental stewardship. Examples include a conversion to ridge tillage that increased yields and cut water use; the installation of LEPA sprinkler nozzle packages that increase efficiency, but curb water use; strip tillage, in which fertilizer is placed directly below plants to reduce nitrogen and phosphorous loss and excess runoff, rebuilding terraces, and planting trees each year.

The Franklins also are enrolled in a three-year pilot program for irrigation water management, Gerry said.

“With such dry weather, we depend on genetics to help with crop rotations,” Gerry said. “We’ve planted Clearfield wheat to eliminate a grass problem in our winter wheat fields, use certified seed to protect against Karnal bunt, and Round-up Ready soybeans and corn in fields where weed pressure is a concern.”

With Linda’s computer background, the couple also has been able to maintain financial records and track production expenses and equipment repairs. They are changing from business band radios to cell phones, and keep current on farming methods by attending various workshops and seminars through the year.

Gerry is an avid reader of publications and textbooks, and agricultural Web sites.

In 2001, the Franklins were named the 10th District Farm Family of the Year by the Kansas Farm Bureau. The award included a trip to California to see vertical integration of farm operations there.

“We can’t control the weather, but have to believe that if we do the best that we can, all will work out. It usually does,” Gerry said.

While the couple is being honored for their farming methods and community service, they describe their three children as their “most awesome crop.” As a family, they have been leaders and contributors in their community in activities ranging from board service to planning funeral dinners, which, said Linda, “bring people together in a time of need.”

The couple’s children – son Kyle; daughter Sarah; and son Tim – have been members of the Glendale Livewires 4-H Club in which their mother once participated.

Kyle earned a degree in industrial engineering at K-State and is in the Operations Leadership Development Program at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Ft. Worth, Texas.

Daughter Sarah earned a dual degree in Bakery Science and Food Science with a minor in Business Administration from K-State and currently works as a quality assurance manager at The Corner Bakery in Atlanta, Ga. Her husband, Kyle Johnson, graduated from K-State with a degree in mechanical engineering and works for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Atlanta.

“Sarah credits her interest in baking to her experiences in 4-H and her grandmother,” Linda Franklin said.

Son Timothy is a junior pursuing a degree in milling science and management at K-State.

The Franklins are leaving the options open and said that they know that it has to be their children’s decision.

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.