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Note to Editors: Adapted from the Kansas Profile radio series, this column profiles a different Kansan, Kansas community or Kansas-based company every Wednesday, as a regular feature of the K-State Research and Extension News lineup. A photo of Ron Wilson is available at http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/news/sty/RonWilson.htm. Released: February 13, 2008 Kansas Profile – Now, That’s Rural  Meeting the customer. That’s an important part of any business. But if you are a farmer in the middle of Kansas whose wheat is being exported to Amsterdam, for example, how in the world can you meet your customer? The answer is that you band together with fellow wheat farmers and create an organization with resources to reach those customers and develop markets world-wide. That’s exactly what wheat farmers have done in creating U.S. Wheat Associates. This year’s Chairman of the Board of this national organization is another in our series of national ag leaders from rural Kansas. Ron Suppes is from Dighton, Kansas. Ron is Chairman of the Board of U.S. Wheat Associates. Ron Suppes is a native of Scott City. He is both a wheat farmer and an educator, having grown up on a farm and worked as a rural school administrator. Ron went to Fort Hays State and got a master’s in secondary school administration. He taught at Pratt and became a high school principal at the rural community of Fowler, population 571 people. Now, that’s rural. He went on to be principal at Scott City for eight years before going into farming full-time with his wife Shirley near Dighton. He says, “We farm as a team. Shirley’s my right hand man - or maybe I’m hers.” Over time, Ron became active in the wheat organizations. He serves on the Kansas Wheat Commission and is a graduate of the Kansas Agriculture and Rural Leadership program. He became appointed to the Board of U.S. Wheat Associates. U.S. Wheat Associates is the national market development organization for the U.S. wheat industry. In contrast to the National Association of Wheat Growers, which is a membership and policy organization, U.S. Wheat Associates collects checkoff dollars from wheat sales and allocates those funds to build markets for U.S. wheat worldwide. The U.S. Department of Agriculture matches those funds three-fold. Ron Suppes says, “Our main purpose is to sell the fifty percent of our wheat crop that we don’t consume domestically. We have 80 people working for us in eighteen offices, sixteen of which are outside this country around the world.” He says, “My main purpose is to represent the wheat farmers in this effort. It’s farmer-owned and doing a darn good job. And it’s very efficient. For every bushel we sell overseas, it costs the U.S. farmer a fourth of a penny.” That’s a real bargain, considering that a bushel of wheat is now valued at $9 or so. In July 2007, Ron became Chairman of the Board of U.S. Wheat Associates. This means he does considerable travel in support of the organization’s market development mission. At one meeting in the Middle East, Ron met the head grain buyer from Iraq who told him chilling stories. The grain buyer said that he usually traveled with two cars and four bodyguards. Ron was encouraging him to buy wheat more consistently. The buyer said, “If I ever run out of wheat, I won’t just lose my job, I’ll lose my life.” Most of Ron’s encounters are not so dramatic. U.S. Wheat Associates does lots of educational programs to show foreign millers and grain buyers how to use U.S. wheat. Many of those programs are through K-State’s International Grains Program. U.S. Wheat Associates sends trade teams throughout the world to build markets, plus holding regional sessions around the globe. Ron’s job is a form of personal diplomacy in support of wheat. He’s even hosted a South African trade team on his Lane County farm. Ron foresees changes in agriculture, with more diversified and identity-preserved production and new uses such as cellulosic ethanol. Of course, building relationships with buyers will always be important. Meeting the customer. It’s vital to any business, and it’s part of what U.S. Wheat Associates does to build markets for U.S. wheat farmers. We commend Ron and Shirley Suppes for giving leadership to this organization and helping to see that our foreign customers’ needs are being met. And
there’s more. Kansas’ national ag leadership reaches beyond the farm gate.
We’ll learn about that in our next column. 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 research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus in Manhattan. For more
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