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Print this story By Ron Wilson, director, Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University. Kansas - the Wheat State. Our state has long been known as a leader in the wheat industry, but given that fact, why is it that Kansas has not had a national president of the wheat growers organization in about a quarter of a century? That situation was remedied recently when a young man from rural Kansas became the president of the National Association of Wheat Growers. It´s another in our series on national ag leaders from Kansas. John Thaemert is from Sylvan Grove, Kansas. In March 2007, John became president of the National Association of Wheat Growers, the first Kansan to do so in more than 20 years. John grew up on a small farm near Sylvan Grove. You might say he went to college on the seven year plan. He was expanding the farming operation, so he attended Fort Hays State in the spring semester only and spent the summer and fall doing the farming. He studied finance and went to work for Citizens State Bank and Trust in Ellsworth while continuing to farm. Two things happened next. One was that a neighbor of John´s, Merrill Nielsen, became active with the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers. In fact, Merrill was the state president. The second was that John joined a brand new program called Kansas Agriculture and Rural Leadership, or KARL. The goal of KARL is to encourage more leadership in the ag industry and rural communities. John Thaemert was in the very first class of KARL participants. John says, "KARL helped me to realize that if we in agriculture don´t stand up and speak for ourselves, somebody else will have a say and it might not be good." Through his neighbor Merrill, John got involved in the wheat growers organization. He became active at the state level and then at the national level as well, serving on various committees and boards. The time came to consider national office. John says, "I´d asked other people to consider it and they turned me down, so I decided I´d give it a try myself." He was elected in 2007. His responsibilities take him from coast to coast and as far away as Australia. Because of the farm bill debates and other national policy issues, he travels to Washington, D.C. approximately once a month. That´s pretty exciting, coming from the rural community of Sylvan Grove, Kansas, population 319 people. Now, that´s rural. In fact, back in 2001 he was in D.C. on business while serving as president of the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers. He and other wheat producers were in one senator´s office when their meeting was interrupted. The day, by the way, was 9-11. The report came that terrorists had hit the World Trade Center and that the Senate office buildings had to be evacuated immediately. Next thing he knew, John and his colleagues were on the street. They managed to get to the airport and found that all planes were grounded. So they rented one of the last vans available and proceeded to drive home, all the way to Kansas. Most of his wheat grower activities have not been quite so dramatic. It has been exciting to be the national president in the year that the new farm bill is being debated. The wheat growers are working to maintain the basic structure of farm programs. Among growers, John is working to change producers´ mindsets from entitlement to entrepreneurship. John is proud that USDA and the National Association of Wheat Growers are working together on biotech issues. He is excited about such possibilities as cellulosic energy from agricultural crops and the promise that this can have for the future. Kansas - the Wheat State. Now our state can also claim to be the home of the president of the National Association of Wheat Growers. We commend John Thaemert for making a difference with his service, helping to improve the state of wheat. And there´s more. Yet another commodity is represented by a Kansan at the helm of its national organization, so we´ll meet another national ag leader from rural Kansas next week.
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