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Released: February 23, 2005 Kansas Master Farmers, Master Farm Homemakers Named MANHATTAN, Kan. – In recognition of their leadership in agriculture, environmental stewardship and service to their communities, six Kansas couples have been named 2004 Kansas Master Farmers and Master Farm Homemakers. The award program dates back to 1927 and is sponsored by Kansas State University Research and Extension and Kansas Farmer Magazine. The couples will be honored at a 6 p.m. banquet March 11 at the Holiday Inn in Manhattan. For more information, interested persons can call 785-532-5820. The 2004 Master Farmers and Master Farm Homemakers, in alphabetical order by last name, are:
Ken and Corinne Dubois
Ken is the fourth generation to farm the family’s land. He attended Burlingame schools and graduated from K-State. He then took a position with Gulf Oil Corp.’s agriculture chemicals division in Minnesota, selling directly to farmers. His time there was invaluable, he said, because he was able to apply what he learned to the family’s farming operation, once he returned to Kansas. Ken and Corinne, who met at a restaurant where Corinne was working, credit much of their success to their parents’ support and generosity. The family grows wheat, corn, soybeans and grain sorghum on their land, 1,560 acres of which they own and the other 1,690 of which is leased. Ken said he believes in continuing education and has attended workshops and seminars to keep abreast of changes in agriculture. The self-described “detail-oriented” farmer keeps his own records and is a long-time member of the Kansas Farm Management Association, a part of K-State Research and Extension. He cited a move to 12-row machinery and the use of minimum tillage as two changes he’s made over the years. That made for more efficient work days and allowed the family to take on more land with less labor. The Dubois’, who will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary May 29, raised four boys. The oldest son, Craig and his wife, Kristen, live in Olathe, Kan. with their children, Courtney, Kara and Zachary. Son, Chris, and his wife, Cheryl, live in Burlingame. They have four children – Ryan, Trey, Skyler and Tori. Son, Brent, and his wife, Heidi, became parents last fall with the birth of Willow. They live in Wellsville, Kan. Ken and Corinne’s youngest son, Kyle, and his wife, Nikki, recently moved to Olathe. “We never pushed them to farm, we just wanted them to be happy,” said Corinne of their sons. “We returned to the farm because we wanted to. We would have loved for them to come back, but mostly we wanted them to be happy. But we know if we ever need them, they’ll be right here.” Ken is a 35-year member of the Lions Club, and was its charter president in 1969. He served on the Osage County Fair Board, the Osage County Zoning Appeals Board and was the chairman of the board for Soyking. He is a 50-year member of the Kansas Farm Bureau and has served on the Burlingame Coop board. For 25 years, Corinne has worked for the Carey Funeral Home. She also buys and sells antiques and collectibles. She has been a baseball coach and, while she helped with Boy Scouts, she was more involved in Girl Scouts. Corinne was also a 25-year member of the Osage County Home Demonstration Unit and belongs to the Eagles Auxiliary and the American Legion Auxiliary.
Vance and Louise Ehmke
Vance is a fourth generation Kansas farmer. He grew up in the home in which the couple now lives, but left to attend Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kan., where he met Louise Carlson, from San Jose, Calif. – the future Mrs. Ehmke. Vance transferred to K-State, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He then accepted a position with Progressive Farmer magazine, which took the couple to Birmingham, Ala. “I enjoyed the writing, but found myself increasingly interested in the progressive farming methods that I was writing about,” Vance said. In 1975, with his parents aging and slowing down, the couple sold their home and moved back to the Kansas farm Vance’s family homesteaded in 1886. The Ehmkes make an effort to keep current, through Extension and K-State short courses, reading, and an ongoing curiosity about agriculture and the world. At one time they traveled to North Africa and came home with a new appreciation for how good bread can be. Vance is past president of the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers and a founding member of the Kansas Wheat Seminar Group. Louise has crisscrossed the state and traveled to China with the Kansas Agriculture and Rural Leadership (KARL) program. She organized an effort to get a combine cab for Agriland at the Kansas State Fair and enlisted the help of her family to videotape from such a cab to simulate the farm experience for fair visitors. As a member of the Kansas Wheathearts, she suggested the Kansas Festival of Breads Contest. The couple shares farm management responsibilities, and Vance is quick to credit Louise’s resourcefulness: “I’m not sure exactly what Louise is supposed to be doing, but you do know that if she’s gone a day or two, absolutely nothing gets done.” “The neighbors think Vance can grow milo out of a rock, but the family is working right there with him,” Louise said. The couple expanded the farm from 480 acres to nearly 7,000, a combination of land they own and rent, and have built a certified seed business. They grow wheat, grain sorghum, triticale and rye, with some of the land in pasture or left fallow. They farm land in Scott and Lane Counties, practicing crop rotation, grazing land management and conservation. To lessen their dependence on government payments, the Ehmkes have slowly moved away from production of basic commodity crops and toward “niche” or specialty value-added crops. Higher profits in “niche” markets allow them to make a living from a smaller acreage. Such a strategy also makes room for one or more of the couple’s four children to return to the farm, they said. The couple’s son Cole and his wife, Mariah, live in West Lafayette, Indiana and son, Tanner, lives in the Chicago area. Another son, Layton, lives in Kenai, Alaska and the Ehmkes’ daughter, Marit, still lives at home, where she is a high school freshman. All of the children were involved in the Eager Beaver 4-H Club. “We’re leaving the door open for our children. I hadn’t planned to return to the farm, but Louise and I certainly are glad that we did. Farming is a good living – and a good life,” Vance said.
Gregg and Susan Gartrell
“We got involved early on,” Gregg said. “To keep ourselves and our community progressive, we need to stay informed and involved in school, church, business, economics, and other issues at all levels of society.” Gregg and Susan both grew up on farms. The Gartrell farmstead, where they now live, was originally settled by Gregg’s great-grandfather in 1902. Gregg and Susan both graduated from K-State before returning to Gregg’s family’s farm. The couple have been very involved in the Rooks County Conservation District Board. Gregg helped promote conservation practices and provided leadership as the board dealt with government program issues. Susan worked as the district information coordinator, writing news articles and organizing meetings. Gregg and Susan have also been agricultural ambassadors for rural Kansas, with Susan at one time traveling to Brazil and Gregg visiting China. As their children grew, the couple found the organizations that they were involved in changed, as well. That led them to involvement in 4-H and FFA. “4-H is one organization that we really benefitted from,” Susan said. “It allowed the kids to pursue projects and special interests outside of school and to hone their leadership skills. We live far from town, so it was an opportunity to interact with others in our community and for the kids to make stronger friendships. I am still active with our local club, even though the kids are grown and away at college.” Over the years, Gregg and Susan began planting non-traditional crops, and in 1996, they began using longer, diverse rotations in a no-till cropping system. That reduced equipment and labor needs while increasing yields, raising organic matter levels, conserving moisture and preventing erosion, Gregg said. The couple also began using exotic bloodlines in their cattle breeding program and retaining their feeder cattle through the feedlot stage, which allowed them to profitably retain ownership of their calf crop and to get the side benefit of receiving carcass data on their cow herd, Gregg said. Gregg has also worked at developing a new rotational grazing system in the past two years. The couple are members of the 21st Century Grain Processing Cooperative and have grown confectionary sunflowers under contract. Computerized records help the Gartrells track and analyze information related to crop and livestock enterprises and other financial records. The Gartrells attribute their having an overall successful life to their belief in God. “Church attendance has always been important to our family,” Gregg said. “Amazingly, we always got the crops in and our jobs done without working on Sunday.” All three of the Gartrells’ children were involved in church and school activities while growing up, and all three now attend K-State. Ethan is a senior, Brett is a junior and daughter Heather is a freshman.
Joe and Ann Ludlum
Joe earned a degree from K-State in 1969 and taught vocational agriculture for six years in the early 1970s. He substitute taught for 11 years while the couple built their farming operation. Ann earned a degree from Pittsburg State University and worked as a home economist for Kansas Gas and Electric for seven years before starting a family. She then worked as a substitute teacher and part-time church secretary while raising the couple’s two daughters – Kelli and Beth. She became the K-State Research and Extension family and consumer sciences agent in Allen County in 1996 and in Bourbon County in 2000. The Ludlum’s farm, near Uniontown, is a study in land management and environmental leadership. The family farms 1,870 acres, a combination of land they own and rent, raising soybeans, grass hay, corn, wheat and clover hay – all non-irrigated. The couple began a cow-calf operation in 1970. Over time they’ve added to the herd, which now totals 110 cows and 95 calves/stockers or feeders. In 1999, the Ludlums initiated lease hunting for turkey and deer in the wooded areas on their farm. “Farming is a responsibility,” Joe said. “We believe that we do not own the land, but that it is entrusted to us to care for it for a period of time and that we should leave it as productive as we found it.” The Ludlums practice conservation and received a Kansas Bankers Award for Soil Conservation in 1987, Grassland Award from the Bourbon County Conservation District in 2002, and Kansas Farm Bureau Natural Resources County Award in 2003. Joe has served on the Marmaton Valley Watershed Steering Committee and District Board to help reduce flood damage in the river basin and stabilize the water supply. The couple is enrolled in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) through the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and they follow K-State’s recommendations on applying fertilizer and lime to prevent soil erosion and run-off. “No one crop is ever grown in the same field more than two consecutive years. Following this plan offers optimum yields and enhances pest management,” said Joe, who also uses rotational grazing to enhance animal performance and improve pasture conditions. Both Joe and Ann have been active on the Bourbon County Extension Council and Executive Board. Joe served on the advisory committee for the Southeast Kansas Ag Experiment Station, and their farm has served as a site for demonstration research plots. Joe has also been a longtime supporter of ag education, FFA and 4-H programs and served on the Bourbon County Fair Board. Ann’s involvement with Extension programs, including serving as a 4-H leader, predated her employment as a K-State Research and Extension agent. The gap between her teaching experience and role as an agent reflects time she focused on family and daughters Kelli and Beth. Kelli and Beth both live and work in the Washington, D.C. area. “Having the girls so far away is a change for our family. We are proud of their accomplishments and also that each is choosing a career of service. A sense of community and service are part of rural life, and we are happy to have instilled those values in our daughters,” Ann said.
Daryl and Linda Sales
Linda Sales thinks she’s been in the right spot at the right time – for much the same reasons. The couple farms what is now 1,750 acres of diversified crop land and pasture, improved with modern cattle-working facilities. It’s mostly devoted to raising premium breeding stock from 200 head of registered Angus cows. And, it continues to win conservation awards, as Daryl maintains family traditions. Daryl’s father, 88-year-old Wendel Sales, is still a silent partner, driving out to the farm every day. Daryl was valedictorian of Valley Falls High School’s class of ‘79 and was active in music, sports and 4-H. About 25 miles away, Linda was growing up in rural Hoyt, where she studied the piano, loved gardening and served as a church organist and became salutatorian of Royal Valley’s High School’s class of ‘82. Daryl went to K-State, but Linda went further west to Marymount College in Salina. She has been a nurse at Topeka’s Saint Francis Health Center for 18 years. Daryl’s cousin helped them meet. “He opened the car door for me and won me over,” Linda said of the couple’s first date. They married in 1988. In addition to her career in nursing, Linda also started the farm’s computerized record keeping. Daryl started a farm expansion program that added acreage at two-year intervals until late in the 1990s. He bought his first registered Angus bulls. He then started converting a 100-unit crossbred cowherd into a commercial Angus herd and then a prime herd of registered Angus breeding stock. He also adopted no-till planting and tried various crop and grazing rotations with wheat, grain sorghum, corn, soybeans, alfalfa and red clover. Linda dropped back to half-time work at St. Francis 12 years ago. She and Daryl adopted two newborn babies. First came Justin, now a seventh-grade athlete. Next was Justin’s natural sister, Amanda, who is a fourth grader. Daryl helps coach softball teams, leads the Prosperity 4-H Club and serves on the Jefferson County Extension Council. He supports the local Rotary Club, various farm organizations and county water boards. Linda is active at the children’s school, has served as an assistant Brownie Scout leader, and worked with her church’s religious education program. She is in her second year as a 4-H cooking project leader. “If we have a successful family life, it goes back to our background of living in rural areas where duties, responsibilities and hard work were a way of life,” she said. “Because our families worked together, they were closely knit – with higher education expected.”
Dennis and Linda Siefkes
At the same time, however, they’ve turned farm management, family living, and rural church and community support into something that’s simply special. “I can remember my father planting milo with a three-bottom lister planter, pulled by a 40-horsepower M Farmall tractor,” Dennis said. “It was a lot of hard work back then. I had to scoop grain off the truck and into the bin and then scoop it back out again, shovel load by shovel load.” He dreamed of being a profitable steward of the land, but one who also kept up – who would make the farm as efficient and productive as possible before passing it along to his own son. That son would be the fifth generation of Siefkes farming in northern Stafford County. Dennis went to K-State and brought what he learned back home to farm with his father. He also served a six-year stint in the Army National Guard, rising to the rank of sergeant. Linda earned a K-State degree, as well. After marrying Dennis, she taught in junior and senior high school until their children – Jon, Angela and Melissa, all of whom share a June 1 birthday – started to arrive. Dennis is now in partnership with Jon. The family uses new technology – everything from global positioning system (GPS) sprayers to gadgets for measuring moisture in bins and bales. Even so, Dennis admits that he stays awake nights, thinking of how he can improve efficiency further. One idea was a multi-pen cattle-working facility, designed so that animals can be directly herded into any of five irrigated fields. Another was not to irrigate during the heat of the day in order to conserve water and electricity, as well as give the aquifer time to recharge and lessen the irrigation water’s salt content. Over the past few years, Dennis has planted 2,400 redcedar trees, too, using 15,100 feet of weed-barrier fabric. The trees will provide shelter for the cow herd and decrease wind erosion. They’ll also provide refuge for wildlife, helping the family’s fall fee-hunting enterprise. Linda substitute teaches now that the children are grown. But, she jokes, “When I die, I’ll probably have more men at my funeral than ladies,” because of her errands to the elevator and other farm suppliers. Linda also has become adept with computers while keeping the family and business records. The Seifkes partnership farms about 4,000 acres – owned and leased. Growing both dryland and irrigated crops, they raise wheat, milo, corn, soybeans, alfalfa, millet and rye. They also have more than 200 beef cows and 200 calves. Over the years, the family has been involved in religious, civic, agricultural and educational organizations. Dennis was the leader of the Jolly Workers 4-H Club long before the Siefkes had children. And, Linda continues to judge at county 4-H fairs, even though her children haven’t belonged in years. The Siefkes’ son, Jon, and his wife, Andrea, live nearby, and daughter Angela and her husband, Michael Laurie, live in Georgia. Their daughter Melissa lives in the Kansas City, Kan., area. -30- 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: Mary Lou Peter is at 785-532-1164 or mlpeter@oznet.ksu.edu |
Ken and Corinne Dubois may be farming the family’s original farmstead that dates back to the 1860s, but there’s nothing old-fashioned about the way they run their business. 
Vance and Louise Ehmke are self-proclaimed “niche farmers.”
Gregg and Susan Gartrell believe that as the number of people who are tied to the land decreases, the importance of their promoting agriculture in both small towns and in urban areas increases. The couple and their three children have all been active in numerous community organizations.
Joe and Ann Ludlum, who met at the Hiattville United Methodist Church, say that faith is an integral part of their daily lives. Each grew up on a small farm in southeastern Kansas. 
Daryl Sales thinks he’s been lucky – in the parents he got, in the friends he made at college, and even in the blind date he agreed to18 years ago – which led to his meeting his future wife, Linda. 
Dennis and Linda Siefkes think of themselves as people who live simply.