Last week, Sen. Pat Roberts’ began a series of radio ads in rural areas of Kansas pointing out that his opponent in the upcoming August 5 primary, Milton Wolf, has an alarming lack of depth and understanding on the issues that impact Kansas farmers and ranchers. Dr. Wolf’s response? That Sen. Roberts was conducting “geographic warfare” by focusing on issues important to “Western Kansas.”
We would advise Dr. Wolf of two things. First, addressing rural and agricultural issues—and specifically his lack of understanding on these issues—is not geographic warfare, but rather the exact discussions that Kansans in rural areas need to have with a lawmaker that truly understands the unique nature of their communities, the farm economy and the difficulties that many farmers and ranchers face. Second, farming and ranching and its extended impacts are hardly limited to what Dr. Wolf describes shortsightedly as “Western Kansas.” Agriculture is Kansas’ top industry—the Eastern and Western parts alike. It employs just under a quarter of all Kansans, and also supports the biosciences and animal health industry that is such a vital part of the economy in the more urban and suburban Kansas City area.
Kansas is a perfect case study in how farmers and ranchers work together with our neighbors in the city to drive the success of Kansas agriculture and the economy it sustains. We have never gained from the “us and them” mentality that Dr. Wolf displays, and we certainly wouldn’t benefit from his representation of us in Washington.
By contrast, Sen. Roberts has served Kansas as a conservative, free-market Republican leader on the Senate Agriculture Committee, and before that as Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. He understands at their deepest levels the unique needs of all of Kansas’ farm and ranch families, and has worked to streamline and optimize the federal farm program in a way that benefits our state while still addressing our collective fiscal responsibilities. He knows the critical role that disaster assistance and crop insurance play in keeping Kansas farmers in the game, and he recognizes that none of us can succeed on the farm with excessive and impractical government regulation.
Being a champion for agriculture is more than talking folksy and polishing a decades-old trophy from a cow-milking contest. We are a community of businesspeople with real needs and real challenges, and we need a senator with a real understanding of rural Kansas.
That’s why, as farmers from across the state, we’re sticking with Pat Roberts.
Brian Baalman, Menlo
Bob Henry, Robinson
Terry Hobbs, Penokee
Ronald McNickle, Cherryvale
Eugene Scheer, Garden Plain
Jeff Sternberger, Garden City
Kent Winter, Andale
Lloyd Wulfkuhle, Lecompton