As harvest was beginning last weekend, I was able to visit a farm near Hoisington and ride along for a while.

Being on the combine took me back to a wonderful childhood. My dad’s parents had a dairy while my mom’s parents were more typical diverse Kansas farmers. They had about 160 acres of wheat along with alfalfa, grain sorghum and pasture for a Hereford herd.

My memories of wheat harvest include my uncle driving the wheat truck to the co-op elevator in Burns and getting a different bottle of Crush pop with each visit. This was the first time I ever had anything but Coca-Cola or Pepsi and my favorites quickly became strawberry and grape.

As I grew up and became old enough to drive the wheat truck or the tractors, I remember my grandma bringing shakes to the field on hot summer afternoons – made with vanilla ice cream and strawberry crush pop.

I also remember losing a wheat crop three days before harvest from a hailstorm and watching another wheat crop fail due to too much rain and not being able to get in the fields.

Those years remind me why my grandpa was so diligent about watching the weather report every night at 10:20 p.m.

Thanks to the Stoskopf family, Dean and Mary Anne, Julia and Josh, for letting me tag along today and relive some of those memories.

Wheat prices are at record lows but the yields look promising. It will be another very very tough year for agriculture. The experience only reinforces the importance of opening up new markets and trade opportunities and writing a strong farm bill.

I wish all of the farm families a safe and successful wheat harvest. Thank you for all you do for our great nation.

As always, if you have any questions, concerns or know of ways my office can be of assistance, don’t hesitate to contact us.

 

In the House

Career & Technical Education

This week, the House passed the “Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act.”

Career and technical education is foundationally important to economic growth and innovation.

These are the jobs that sustain our economy. We must always keep this curriculum at the top of our minds when we look at preparing our students for success and our economy for stability.

 

Internships available!

Students! Are you interested in working in Congress? If you are, apply for an internship with our office.

We offer internships in all of our office locations, and can fit the work to suit your interests.

Visiting our veterans

It is always an honor to visit our veterans when they arrive in Washington on an honor flight.

On Thursday, I had an opportunity to visit them outside of the Korean War Memorial. Below (left) is a photo of my new friend, Don, who served in WWII.

Additionally, we were honored to be joined by my friend, CIA Director Mike Pompeo (shown bottom right).