Gaeddert seeks re-election to MKC board of directors

By Kerry Watson, Director of Communications

Three positions on MKC's board of directors will be decided by a vote of the membership during MKC's annual meeting scheduled for Thursday, July 11, at 6 p.m., at the Sunflower Building located on the Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson.  Jason Gaeddert, is seeking re-election to District 3.
 
Jason, along with his family, operates a diversified, dryland and irrigated grain operation in the Buhler area. Their operation consists of corn, soybeans, wheat, milo and sweet corn. His primary MKC location is Buhler.

Jason was first elected to the MKC board of directors in 2007.He is seeking re-election to District 3 because he feels a sense of responsibility to MKC to not only do business with the cooperative, but also contribute to the leadership and direction of the company. Jason wants to do his part to insure MKC’s future remains strong so that it will continue to help in the success of everyone’s farming operations.

He believes MKC’s strengths include the many employees that are dedicated to helping members farming operations be successful. The ability to market grain and purchase inputs in today’s global market and joining others in a cooperative provides a competitiveness that can’t be achieved as individuals. Jason believes MKC’s tag line, "Shared Growth. Shared Success." truly defines what a cooperative is.

Women in agriculture

Fall crops had been delivered to the Mid Kansas Coop at Castleton when Tina Collins started cleaning machinery and building fence in preparation for the cattle she would be bringing home for winter on her Reno County farm.



Dixie Mattas and her husband, Gary,
farm near Lindsborg.

At Dixie Mattas’ farm the routine is about the same, down to the waxing of the combine. While Mattas farms with her husband Gary, just north of Lindsborg, in McPherson County, Collins works solo, having taken over her family farm four miles south of Pretty Prairie.

Collins and Mattas make up about 26,800 female farmers out of Kansas’ nearly 70,000 farm operators according to the recent Census of Agriculture. Meanwhile Collins is part of an even smaller group of 7,943 women who are considered the principal operator of the farm.

Despite different farming operations, the two women share a passion for their work and an appreciation for MKC and how the cooperative has enhanced their lives in several ways.

Both women were raised on farms, and helping out was just always a part of their childhood.

“I loved it,” Mattas said of growing up on her parent’s farm near Bridgeport. The granddaughter of Swedish immigrants who lived in a dugout near Bridgeport, she says her roots run deep in central Kansas.

Return of funds in MF Global bankruptcy to be priority

Producers and business people from across the United States submitted testimony this past week before the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry about the effects of MF Global’s bankruptcy filing.   CJ Blew, Castleton-area producer and MKC’s Board Chairman, was asked by Senator Pat Roberts to participate in those hearings on Tuesday.

Blew testified that although he did not personally have assets tied up in the MF Global bankruptcy, he was impacted.  “I rely upon my cooperative to manage my risk by forward pricing grain and my cooperative is impacted by the bankruptcy.” 

Blew further testified about the amount of time both MKC and Team Marketing Alliance (TMA) spent in the days following the bankruptcy filing trying to understand how and why various adjustments to account balances took place. 

MKC Sends Representatives to CHS New Leader Institute

Kent Nichols, Amber Brown, Aaron Vogts,
Katie and Derek Sawyer, Jon Brown, Doug Graber, Austin Greve

In their continuing effort to provide area producers with leadership development opportunities and a greater understanding of the relationship between CHS and the local coop, MKC recently sponsored another group of young leaders to attend the CHS New Leader Institute.  The Institute, hosted annually, was held in conjunction with the CHS annual meeting in Minneapolis, MN. 

Building leaders, advancing agriculture and strengthening rural America is the Institute’s mission. With this mission in mind, MKC continues to be one of the strongest supporters of the program sponsoring 58 local producers and young employees since 2004. This year’s attendees included Jon and Amber Brown, Doug Graber, Austin Greve, Kent Nichols, Derek and Katie Sawyer and Aaron Vogts.