With his confirmation as ambassador for freedom of religion on the front burner in Congress, Gov. Sam Brownback took to the podium at the annual Kansas Farm Bureau breakfast at the Kansas State Fair to call attention to the successes during his time as governor of Kansas and assure his constituents that Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer will make a great governor.

In what may be his last public event appearance as governor, Brownback claimed credit for putting the Ogallala Aquifer on a “sustainable” path through his Vision for the Future of Water in Kansas program, which put a heavy emphasis on finding answers to the thorny problem of the depletion of the aquifer.

“The farmers in the northwest part of the state reduced their water use, and we learned that we get better recharge than expected,” Brownback said. “We have shown that we can get to sustainability.”

Water officials in the region of that very successful Local Enhanced Management Area known as the “Sheridan Six” and in the broader Groundwater Management District 4, which is in the process of forming a districtwide LEMA, said “sustainable” is something of an exaggeration. Rather, they said, their success shows that the useful life of the aquifer can be extended by conservation efforts, including changes in cropping practices.

“I think that depends on how you define sustainable,” said Ray Luhman, manager of GMD 4. “I think some people think of lasting through their lifetime or maybe even their term in office as sustainable. In the sense of lasting indefinitely, even though we have shown that significant progress is possible, I don’t think you could say ‘problem solved.’ We still have work to do.”

Part of their success story, they said, comes from more favorable weather conditions during the years the LEMA has been in place.

“We have had better growing conditions, including a lot more rainfall than normal over the last two or three years,” said GMD 4 Manager, Ray Luhman. “Drought will come again, we know that. And when it does, we will have water in the aquifer to help us get through it. That’s water that wouldn’t be there if we had not reduced pumping.”

Luhman said another bright spot in the statistics from the Sheridan Six LEMA is that producers did not lose money with the change to less water usage.

“In fact, we heard from producers that they actually improved the bottom line,” Luhman said. “And we think that the land in the LEMA has held or increased value because we can demonstrate that we will have water available for more years in the future.”

Brownback also talked about the successful expansion of agribusiness in Kansas during his tenure at Cedar Crest, pointing to the new dairy processing plant opening in Garden City, the announcement that Tyson will be building a processing plant in Tonganoxie, the expansion of the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor, the expansion of the ethanol industry, strong investment in wind energy and progress on getting a private college to train doctors of osteopathy.

TOUTING AGRIBUSINESS: Gov. Sam Brownback also points to expansion of the agribusiness industry during his term, including a new cheese processing plant in Garden City, a chicken processing plant in Tonganoxie, expansion of the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor, expansion of the ethanol industry and major growth in wind energy.

Brownback said he believes he is leaving Kansas in good hands.

“Jeff Colyer has been involved in all of the initiatives that have been undertaken, and he’s ready to take over and do an outstanding job,” Brownback said.