Released: March 07, 2006

Vissers Receive Ag Honor

RILEY, Kan. – A Riley County farm couple – Vinton and Karen Visser – has been named one of six Kansas couples being honored as 2005 Master Farmers and Master Farm Homemakers.

The award honors agricultural leadership, environmental stewardship and community service and is sponsored by Kansas State University Research and Extension and Kansas Farmer Magazine. It will be presented at a banquet March 24 at the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in Junction City.

Vinton Visser is a lifetime resident of Riley County. He met Karen, who grew up on a farm in Bourbon County, in Manhattan. Each earned a degree from K-State --Vinton’s in animal sciences and industry with a minor in agricultural economics and Karen’s in agricultural journalism.

Karen returned to K-State to earn a master’s degree in agriculture education and chose technology and its effect on agriculture as the subject of her master’s thesis. The project piqued her interest in computers, and she has since computerized livestock, crop and financial farm records. She attends agricultural technology schools and conferences to keep up to date.

While she is keen on technology and its time- and money-saving applications in today’s agricultural practices, the couple is respectful of agriculture’s role in food production and society and the need for environmental consciousness and stewardship of the land.

All eight of Vinton’s great grandparents have farmed in Riley County. Vinton’s grandfather, Ed Visser, was honored as a Master Farmer in 1938. The couple’s parents, George and Lorene Visser and Henry and Doris Ericson (Karen’s parents, who farm in Bourbon County) also have been named Master Farmers and Master Farm Homemakers, with the senior Vissers earning the honor in 1977 and the Ericsons tapped in 1990.

Vinton and Karen describe their operation as a “diversified crops and livestock farm” and sell their 16-day-old weaned pigs to Visser Farms, Inc., which finishes about 4,000 260-lb. market hogs a year.

“Profitability is the bottom line,” Vinton said. “Consolidation in the hog marketing system has increased marketing costs. With the closest processing plants now out of state, we need to make sure that we have a full load. The fuel costs add up, but the time needed to cover the distance also is a factor. Making the trip takes the whole day.”

In addition to the market hog operation, their business includes about 500 cattle (calves, stockers and feeders).

The couple grow about 450 acres of wheat; 560 acres of grain sorghum; 340 acres of soybeans and 133 acres of corn and also provide crop ground for grain sorghum, corn, wheat, and soybean test plots. The grain sorghum and corn are stored on the farm and used for animal feed, and the soybeans are stored on the farm and marketed when prices are favorable.

Given the farm’s close proximity to a rapidly growing area near Manhattan, Junction City and Fort Riley, urban sprawl is a concern. Family members have been displaced once and the Vissers have had cropland taken (through eminent domain) in the middle of the crop cycle.

They practice environmental stewardship, were among the first in the area to adopt no-till practices to prevent run-off from their farm fields, and have seeded and fertilized waterways and planted trees as windbreaks.

Using integrating guidance systems has been helpful in planting and maximizing spray efficiency, and the family works to be good neighbors. They have planned and engineered wastewater lagoons to stop water contamination and work with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to comply with state regulations, including the Nutrient Utilization Plan, Emergency Response Plan and odor control.

With two of their four children, sons Lance and Justin, interested in farming, Karen, who has participated in the Management, Analysis and Strategic Thinking (MAST) class offered by the Department of Agricultural Economics in K-State’s College of Agriculture, said maintaining a positive attitude and a long-term, strategic plan is key.

“Change is inevitable,” she said. “Think about how farming has changed in the last 10 or 20 years. If we are to succeed, to care for the land, but also earn a living, we have to be optimistic.”

The Vissers are members of the Kansas Farm Management Association and use its Micro-Computer Financial Plus (MCFP) program for financial record keeping. They received a Kansas Bankers Association Conservation Award last year and are active in the Riley County community and with larger agriculture organizations. Both are former 4-H members and Vinton currently is a director for the North Central District Farm Management Association; a member of the Riley County Farm Bureau Board and a voting delegate at the state convention. He also has served on the local school board (USD 378) for eight years and as a state director for the Kansas Pork Producers Council, attending legislative meetings in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere.

Karen has been a community and project leader for the Leonardville Hustlers and Riley Falcons 4-H clubs, active with the Kansas Pork Producers Council, Kansas Farm Bureau, and farm/tractor safety education.

Both Vinton and Karen are active with the Riley County Fair and FFA, with each being named an honorary member of Riley County’s FFA Chapter and North Central District FFA.

The couple has four children, with Lance, the eldest, combining his interest in farming with computer technology. He graduated from Riley County High School in 2001 and is the troubleshooter for electronic controllers in the family’s farm buildings and equipment. He also has begun purchasing livestock.

Justin, the second eldest, has an interest in livestock and a mechanical aptitude. Though graduating from high school less than two years ago (2004), he already owns 26 cows and heifers, 15 calves, four pygmy goats and 10 sows, and has planted three wheat test plots for the Riley County Extension Office. With plans to attend Manhattan Area Technical College to learn vehicle repair and restoration, Justin is building a 1969 C-10 pickup from five donor trucks.

Daughter Brit, which is short for Brita Lena, is a freshman at Highland Community College, with a career interest in sports medicine or kinesiology.

Todd, the youngest, is a junior at Riley County High School and eying a career as a sports broadcaster.

In 1996, the couple was able to purchase a traditional farm home that Vinton’s grandfather built in 1912.

“It’s an honor to raise our family on the farm,” Karen said.

Friends who would like to attend the banquet can call 785-532-5820 for information or reservations.

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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:
Nancy Peterson
nancyp@oznet.ksu.edu
K-State Research& Extension News