Barton County Farm Bureau Association hosted its 103rd Annual Meeting on Aug. 14 at the Historic Wolf Hotel in Ellinwood.
One hundred and five members and guests were present to hear guest speaker Rick McNary.
McNary has excelled in community leadership, teaching others the power of effective teamwork and volunteerism. He is a frequent speaker on the topic of world hunger and blogs for several national and international hunger sites. He is the author of “Hunger Bites: Bite Size Stories of Inspiration,” the novel “Voices on the Prairie,” and a humorous book of short stories, “The Cows of Hobson’s Pond.” He is also a freelance writer and has regular features in Kansas Living, Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism as well national fly-fishing magazines.
The Association honored Darren Nicolet and his son Laine as the 2021 Farm Family of the year. Darren is a fifth-generation Barton County farmer. a
When Darren was 23 years old, his father passed away suddenly. The 2009 harvest had just finished, and he found himself making the day-to-day decisions that a farmer must make. His mother Celia was by his side every day as they carried on the farming operation.
Darren not only continued the farming practices his father and grandfather used, but he realized the importance of experimenting and implementing new farming practices such as, no-till farming and planting cover crops. Darren is an aggressive young farmer, that not only has improved his farming practices, but will continue to research and take the initiative to implement his findings and share his ideas, practices and successes with other farmers, according to information from the Barton County Farm Bureau.
The formal business of the Association was conducted concluding with the election of the 2021 officers, Board of Directors and delegates to the Kansas Farm Bureau Annual meeting to be help in Manhattan in December. The Board of Directors for the 2021-2022 year are: Melissa Nelson Baldwin, Kendra Brummer, Tom Burns, Sharon Hiss, Roger Long, Dara Prescott, Don Sommers and Kyle Schartz. Jerry Esfeld serves as the Barton County Coordinator.
