Newton Couple Named Master Farmer, Homemaker 3/1/04

MANHATTAN, Kan. – In 45 years of farming, Sid and Lois Nattier of rural Newton have lived the reality of most successful “corporate” agriculture operations. The “corporation” has involved everyone in the family – usually three generations at a time. It’s meant decades of hard work and detailed records. It’s meant making sure land and enterprises paid for themselves – which sometimes required being “barn poor.”

For the Nattiers, it’s also meant an equal commitment to church and community, life-long education, and their industry. Plus, strangely, it’s meant thousands of ounces of decorative yarn and thread.

The Nattiers say they’re no more than modest people who came from modest, loving homes. They tried to pass on the same values to their now-grown children: Jeff, Stuart and Lisa.

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, 2004.

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.

Even so, they wish Sid’s dad – Albert Nattier, who died last December – had remained with the “corporation” long enough to see Sid and Lois recognized March 19 as a 2003 Kansas Master Farmer and Master Farm Homemaker during banquet ceremonies at the Manhattan Holiday Inn.

Co-sponsored by Kansas State University Research and Extension and the Kansas Farmer magazine, the program recognizes six families each year. The Harvey County Extension Council nominated the Nattiers, who will be lifetime members of an association that dates back to 1927.

The Nattiers became sweethearts during their junior year at Whitewater High School. They married and started farming with Sid’s dad in 1959.

Sid helped build the operation’s first retention pond for livestock waste in 1960. The wastewater system has been remodeled four times since then, and the waste itself used to improve the farm’s soil.

Sid and Lois also started building their own farm in 1960, by purchasing 67 acres. They immediately developed their first conservation plan, which included a switch to minimum tillage.

That parcel was the start of a long string of land buys that varied in size, amounting one year to just 10 acres. With steady commitment, however, the Nattiers made 22 purchases in 43 years.

Their family grew, too, plus Lois was homemaking, gardening, and learning that just cooking for family and hired help can be a full-time job. During harvest, her table moved into the field.

Beyond that, the Nattiers thought it was important to model being involved at church. As their kids grew, the entire family also got involved in 4-H, as well as in other Extension programs and the county fair – which in 2003 gave Lois the Volunteer of the Year award.

Along the way, Sid became a founder of the county’s 4-H foundation, livestock association and a water district. He held leadership positions at his church and served 14 years on the county’s soil conservation board, nine years in the National Guard, and three years each on the FHA advisory board and Harvey County Development Committee. He spent years on the county fair board and on county Extension’s elected agriculture Program Development Committee (PDC).

Lois also served terms on Extension committees and decision-making boards. She attended and often held leadership positions for 38 years in an Extension homemaker club (now called FCE or Family and Community Education) and for 40 years in Rural Life. She put in years on the local election board.

But Lois didn’t leave 4-H when her children did, so now has 40 years as a 4-H knitting and crochet leader under her belt. She’s been a Master Knitter for 26 years and leads Extension’s monthly adult Hook, Yarn and Needle group. She’s the superintendent for open-class knitting and crochet at the Harvey County Fair and has been judging at other fairs for 19 years – including seven at the Kansas State Fair.

Sid smiles about the results that Lois’ contact with all this yarn and thread have had on their home. He asserts, however, “She’s made it into an art form.”

And now Sid and Lois own 3,650 acres, mostly in pasture or dryland wheat and grain sorghum. The “corporation” rents Albert Nattier’s farm. It participates in Harvey County Extension’s annual sorghum variety test plots and is beginning to adopt a no-till approach to conservation. It has modern 1,700-unit cattle backgrounding and finishing operations, plus is doing business with son Jeff – who, like his dad, has built up his own farm. Daughter Lisa is the company’s full-time office manager.

“The place just sort of happened. It seemed like a natural progression,” Sid said. “We make financial decisions based on past experience, present situation, need, and probability of success. We make annual cash flow and business budgets and have 33 years of farm management records to draw from. I grew up hearing that details are important, but that taking care of the details is a necessity.”

Those details include daily records on each cattle pen and monthly reports on everything else.

At that, the current setup represents a cutback in operations. For years, son Stuart managed Triple S Pork, which included up to 400 breeding sows and a feeder pig operation. Triple S closed in 1997 when Stuart decided to leave farming, go back to college and earn an accounting degree at the University of Phoenix. He now works for Wilkerson Crane in Kansas City.

Stuart and Susan Nattier have four of Sid and Lois’ grandchildren. Jeff and Kristy Nattier have two. Lisa and Mike Riffel have one, rounding out the total at seven.

And Sid and Lois Nattier still see themselves as simple folk, who believe in old-time values, family, conservation, and stepping up to do what needs to be done.

Friends can make Master Farmer-Master Farm Homemaker banquet reservations ($20 a person) to see the Nattiers honored at 6 p.m. March 19 in Manhattan by calling 785-532-5820 by March 5.

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.