Rooks County Farm Family Honored 3/1/04

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Western Kansas’ drought is now in its fourth year, but Jerry and Diane McReynolds remain optimistic about agribusiness and farm life. Their positive attitude is likely one of the many reasons why the Woodston, Kan., couple has been tapped as members of the 2003 Class of Kansas Master Farmers and Master Farm Homemakers.

Their award recognizes leadership in agriculture, environmental stewardship and community service. The program was introduced in 1927 and is sponsored by Kansas State University Research and Extension and Kansas Farmer Magazine.

Jerry grew up on the land the couple now farms. He met Diane, who was from Buhler, Kan., at McPherson College. The couple moved to Manhattan where Jerry completed his education at K-State before they returned to Western Kansas.

Father-Daughter Duo a First in Agriculture Leadership Program

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Jerry McReynolds, Rooks County Master Farmer, and his daughter, Reneé (McReynolds) Laird, have both earned degrees in agricultural economics from Kansas State University. They also are the only father and daughter to each complete the two-year Kansas Agriculture Rural Leadership (KARL) program.

Jerry said that “participating in the program opened his eyes to a larger world and enabled him to develop a better understanding of how Kansas as a food producer fits into the larger world.”

He completed the program in 1993, but said that class members continue to network with each other, and with members of subsequent classes, which include McReynolds’ daughter, Reneé.

During the program, Jerry’s class toured farms and agricultural businesses in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. As a member of the class of 2001, Reneé toured agricultural operations in Australia and New Zealand. Each has a global perspective, but they are very different, said Jack Lindquist, KARL director.

Although her career path has led Reneé to her current job as senior vice president and manager of the Agricultural Over-the-Counter Derivatives Desk for Fimat, USA in Chicago, she returns to the farm to help with harvest each year.

“I was used to trees and people, rather than so many open roads and driving such distances," said Diane, who subscribes to the bloom-where-you-are-planted philosophy. She has since learned to appreciate the beauty of Western Kansas and think of drive time as an asset.

Diane was a stay-at-home mom for 14 years and now is a Title I teacher (fourth to eighth grades), At-Risk Coordinator and director of TIGER (Time to Improve Grades and Enhance Responsibility) for USD 271. The 21-mile drive to work gives her a few extra minutes to think through her schedule, and the drive home offers time to unwind and reflect.

The couple cite their children – son Shawn, and daughters Reneé and Michelle – as their “best crop,” but their farming operation reflects broad-based interests in agribusiness.

Jerry describes the business as a diversified crop and cattle operation, with 2,000 acres planted to wheat, 800 to grain sorghum, and 200 to corn. Seventy-five acres are planted to grain for silage, with 50 to alfalfa and 90 acres devoted to grass hay. Another 850 acres are fallow, with 140 set aside for forage.

A commercial cow-calf enterprise is the backbone of the McReynolds’ cattle operation. They finish an average of 500 to 600 calves/stockers and feeders annually and as many as 400 contract (or custom fed) cattle, Jerry said.

Backgrounding and retaining ownership through finishing, grinding alfalfa to reduce waste and processing feeds have each added value to the couple’s beef program.

“Recent concerns about BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy or mad cow disease) serve as reminders of our responsibility in providing safe food that also tastes great,” said McReynolds, who earned a degree in agricultural economics from K-State. He also is a graduate of the first class of the Kansas Agriculture and Rural Leadership Program (KARL).

The McReynolds market their beef through U.S. Premium Beef and are charter members of the 21st Century Alliance, at whose mill they have their flour processed.

Jerry has said that at times he “may be too optimistic, but intends to hang in there.”

“We can’t grow much if it doesn’t rain. Coping with the drought – the longest his family has endured – has been a challenge,” he said.

The couple has adjusted their herd size and looked elsewhere for grassland. They follow a soil conservation plan on the acres they farm and build and rebuild terraces. They also employ minimum till or no-till practices and credit technology with helping them increase efficiency. By curbing chemical use and managing nutrients, they have helped improve water quality.

The McReynolds use crop advisors, K-State Research and Extension information, expertise from peers, management seminars, agricultural information Web sites to stay current.

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.

“It’s important to maintain programs so as to be in a position to benefit when it (the drought) turns around,” said McReynolds, who serves on the Governor’s Rural Life Task Force, the National Association of Wheat Growers Board and as president of the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers.

The couple believes that working together on the farm has been good for their family, and also credit long-time employee Zane Holsinger with helping to free-up their time so they can participate in off-farm activities.

“On the farm, it’s easy for children to tag along and learn. Each of our children has an excellent work ethic,” said Jerry, who added that leadership opportunities in a small school and church were beneficial to their children. The children were members of the Woodston Sunflower 4-H Club, which the couple re-chartered after moving back to the farm. Jerry had been a member previously.

Son Shawn, who owns cropland and cattle, is actively involved in the farming operation with his parents. And, while both daughters are married and living away from the farm, Reneé and her husband, Aaron Laird, who live in the Chicago area, and Michelle, a fifth grade teacher in Goddard (USD 265), and her husband, Gary Ziegler, who live in Kingman, return for harvest each year. The pace is hectic, but it’s a family time, Jerry said.

Driving the combine is Diane and the couple’s daughters’ favorite job. That has prompted what she describes as a “fun rivalry” in the family.

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.