By RON WILSON
Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development

“1 Kansas farmer feeds more than 155 people + You!” Signs proclaiming this message are frequently seen along the highways and byways of Kansas. These signs demonstrate the passionate advocacy for agriculture which is found in an innovative farm family in rural Kansas.

Jeanne and Harold Mertz were the farm couple who initiated this farm sign project and other projects to benefit agriculture. Harold grew up on a farm southeast of Manhattan. He was a charter member of the Zeandale 4-H Club. During his last year in 4-H, he showed the grand champion steer at the American Royal.

Harold attended K-State where he met Jeanne, who was born in Kansas City, Kansas and had grown up in Oskaloosa. They married and moved back to his family farm, which was named River Creek Farms because it was situated in the Kaw River valley between the Kansas River and Deep Creek.

The Mertzs were grain farmers and producers of cattle and sheep. Harold would feed thousands of lambs in a typical winter. The Mertzs also raised five children: Joe, Tom, Bob, Jane, and Jon.

Harold and Jeanne were both strong leaders. They were named Master Farmer and Master Farm Homemaker in 1987. Harold served on state and national sheep association boards, farm co-op boards, and the school board. He also served as a long-time community leader for the Zeandale 4-H Club. Jeanne was a state and national president of farm women organizations now known as Kansas Agri-Women and American Agri-Women.

Both were strong advocates of agriculture. In the 1970s, Jeanne suggested a way to inform the general public about the benefits of farm production. She proposed, and the farm women’s organization agreed, to put up signs along the highways. These signs depicted a sack full of groceries with the wording “1 Kansas farmer feeds 55 people + You!” When the first signs were erected, the number fed per farmer was 55. As agricultural productivity grew through the years, the number increased and the signs were updated.

Maybe that is like the way McDonald’s used to put on its signs the numbers of hamburgers it sold. Anyway, the most recent Kansas Agri-Women signs now say “more than 155 people + You!”

This sign project generated lots of visibility. At one point, some 60 signs were located around Kansas. Someone observed that Harold enjoyed working with Jeanne on this project, but at the time he didn’t realize that he would become the chief project manager in charge of erecting the signs all across Kansas roadways!

In more recent years, Kansas Agri-Women is working with a sign company to have the signs produced on vinyl and has adapted those signs into magnets, smaller metal signs and posters. One such sign was put on display at the Flint Hills Discovery Center and more than 18,000 people have viewed the sign there.

On National Agriculture Day in 2016, Jeanne arranged to have these magnets placed on the statehouse desks of every Kansas representative.

Over time Harold and Jeanne’s sons Joe and Bob came back to join the family farming operation, along with Joe’s wife Kim and Bob’s wife Mary and the next generation of children.

Harold passed away in fall 2015 and Jeanne passed 14 months later. At the time of her death, she had 11 grandchildren, two step-grandchildren, seven great grandchildren, and five step-great grandchildren. Those great grandchildren would be the sixth generation to farm in this fertile Kansas River valley. That also makes for a big family photo.

These family ties are deeply rooted at River Creek Farms, located just east of the rural community of Zeandale which has a population of perhaps 50 people. Now, that’s rural.

“1 Kansas farmer feeds more than 155 people + You!” That message conveys the importance and productivity of Kansas farmers. We salute Jeanne and Harold Mertz for their family farm and their advocacy of agriculture. We are lucky to be so well-fed.

And there’s more. The next generation of the Mertz family is carrying on this agricultural tradition and moving it up to another level. We’ll learn about that next week.

Do you have tomato plants that are blooming but not setting fruit? There are a number of reasons why this might be happening. One obvious reason could be that there is an excessive amount of nitrogen (i.e. fertilizer) the plant has access to. Nitrogen causes plants to emphasize vegetative growth, often to the detriment of flower production, hence no fruit. Moreover, over-fertilization can lead to a delay in flower production and/or a decrease in fruit-set among the flowers produced.

Another possible problem with no fruit-set is the lack of pollination of the tomato flowers. Tomatoes are typically wind pollinated, therefore are not dependent on pollinators. Having said that though, tomatoes normally won’t set fruit if the night temperature is below 50o F due to sparse production of pollen. Temperatures that reach up to and remain above 750 F at night and day temperatures above 950 F coupled with dry, hot winds will cause poor fruit set on tomatoes, (cherry tomatoes, however, seem to be much more heat tolerant than slicers).  It is these high temperatures that interfere with pollen viability and/or cause excessive style growth leading to the lack of pollination, ergo low to no fruit set during the extreme summer heat.

If the temperatures are ideal, and a tomato flower becomes pollinated, it usually takes about 3 weeks for it to develop into fruit about the size of golf balls.  Growth then becomes more rapid with the mature size being reached in an additional three to six weeks. 

A few more days are then needed to change color.
Although there are “heat-set” slicing tomato varieties, such as Florida 91, Sun Leaper and Sun Master that will set fruit at “higher temperatures”, the difference is normally only 2 to 3 degrees…which is not really that much. It is the cooler temperatures that will allow flowers to resume fruit-set.

Furthermore, the extremely hot weather we have here in this area of Kansas not only interferes with flower pollination, it can also affect how quickly fruit matures. The best temperature for tomato growth and fruit development is 850 to 900 F. When temperatures exceed 1000 F, the plant goes into survival mode and concentrates on moving water to the leaves. Fruit development slows to a crawl. When temperatures moderate, even to the low to mid 90s, the fruit will then continue to ripen more quickly.

Tomato color can also be affected by heat. When temperatures rise above 950 F, red pigments don’t form properly though the orange and yellow pigments do. This results in orange fruit. This doesn’t affect the edibility of the tomato at all, just it’s presentation. 

   

So, can we do anything to help our tomatoes ripen and have good color during extreme heat? You bet there is. One can pick tomatoes when they are in the “breaker” stage. Breaker stage tomatoes are those that have started to turn color. At this point, the tomato has cut itself off from the vine and nothing will be gained by keeping it on the plant. If tomatoes are picked at this stage and brought into an air-conditioned house, they will ripen more quickly and develop a good, red color. Indoor temperatures ranging around 750 to 850 F will work best.

Rip Winkel is the Horticulture agent in the Cottonwood District (Barton and Ellis Counties) for K-State Research and Extension. You can contact him by e-mail at [email protected] or calling either 785-682-9430, or 620-793-1910.