The Kansas Department of Agriculture today announced the names of producers from the western third of the state who were elected to the state’s five commodity commissions — corn, grain sorghum, soybeans, sunflowers and wheat.
Ballots were cast between January 15 and March 1 and were counted at the offices of the Kansas Department of Agriculture. The newly elected commissioners take office April 1 and will serve a three-year term.
District One includes Cheyenne, Decatur, Graham, Norton, Rawlins, Sheridan, Sherman and Thomas counties. District Two includes Gove, Greeley, Lane, Logan, Ness, Scott, Trego, Wallace and Wichita counties. District Three includes Clark, Finney, Ford, Grant, Gray, Hamilton, Haskell, Hodgeman, Kearny, Meade, Morton, Seward, Stanton and Stevens counties.
Commissioners-elect for the Kansas Corn Commission
District One – Brian Baalman is from Sheridan County. He is the past president of the Kansas Corn Growers Association and current Kansas Corn Commissioner. He also serves on the U.S. Meat Federation.
District Two - No candidates ran for District 2 Commissioner. The Kansas Corn Commission will appoint this position.
District Three – Steve Rome is from Stevens County. He has served on the Kansas Corn Growers Association and the Kansas State University Agronomy Advisory Board. Rome earned a bachelor’s degree from Fort Hays State University.
Commissioners-elect for the Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission
No candidates ran for commissioner in Districts One, Two, or Three. The Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission will appoint these positions.
Commissioners-elect for the Kansas Soybean Commission
District One, Two, and Three – Kurt Maurath is from Logan County. He has served on the Soybean Commission for the past eight years, representing the western third of the state. Maurath graduated from Kansas State University with a bachelor’s degree in Agriculture Mechanization.
Commissioner-elect for the Kansas Sunflower Commission
No candidates ran for commissioner in Districts One, Two, or Three. The Kansas Sunflower Commission will appoint these positions.
Commissioners-elect for the Kansas Wheat Commission
District One – Brian Linin is from Sherman County. He currently serves on the Kansas Wheat Commission and is the CFO for Frontier Ag, Inc. Linin earned a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Kansas State University and is currently working on his MBA from Oklahoma State University.
District Two – Ronald Suppes is from Lane County. He currently serves on the Kansas Wheat Commission and has been a participant of the Kansas Agriculture Rural Leadership (KARL) program. Suppes earned a bachelor’s degree from Fort Hays State University.
Distric Three – Jason Ochs is from Hamilton County. He currently serves on the Kansas Wheat Commission, as board president for the Hamilton County Historical Society and as director for the Southwest Kansas Federal Land Bank.
2013 election will covereastern third of state
Corn, grain sorghm, soybean, sunflower and wheat growers in the eastern third of the state can expect to receive information by mail this fall outlining the 2013 election procedure.
Producers in Districts Seven, Eight, and Nine will be affected by the 2013 elections. District Seven includes Atchison, Brown, Doniphan, Jackson, Jefferson, Leavenworth, Marshall, Nemaha, Pottawatomie, Riley and Wyandotte counties. District Eight includes Anderson, Chase, Coffey, Douglas, Franklin, Geary, Johnson, Linn, Lyon, Miami, Morris, Osage, Shawnee and Wabaunsee counties. District Nine includes Allen, Bourbon, Butler, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Cowley, Crawford, Elk, Greenwood, Labette, Montgomery, Neosho, Wilson and Woodson counties.
Grain growers who plan to campaign for a seat on one of the commissions must collect 20 signatures from eligible voters on an official petition form to be included on the 2013 ballot. Official petition forms will be available through the Kansas Department of Agriculture and the grain commodity commissions.
No more than five signatures from any one county will be used to qualify a candidate. Eligible voters are Kansas residents who will reach age 18 before the election and have been growing corn, grain sorghum, soybeans, sunflowers or wheat during the last three years. The filing deadline for candidates is November 30th, 2012
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