Grain growers in central Kansas who plan to campaign for a seat on one of the state’s five grain commodity commissions — corn, grain sorghum, soybeans, wheat or sunflowers — should be gathering petition signatures now to meet the Nov.30 filing deadline. The 2023 election will cover districts 4, 5 and 6, or the central third of Kansas.

District 4 includes Clay, Cloud, Jewell, Mitchell, Osborne, Ottawa, Phillips, Republic, Rooks, Smith and Washington counties. District 5 includes Barton, Dickinson, Ellis, Ellsworth, Lincoln, Marion, McPherson, Rice, Rush, Russell and Saline counties. District 6 includes Barber, Comanche, Edwards, Harper, Harvey, Kingman, Kiowa, Pawnee, Pratt, Reno, Sedgwick, Stafford and Sumner counties.

To be eligible to run for any of the five commodity commissions, the candidate must have been actively engaged in growing that commodity (corn, grain sorghum, soybeans, wheat or sunflowers) in the preceding five years, and may only represent the district of their primary residence.

Candidates must gather 20 signatures from eligible voters to be included on the 2023 ballot. No more than five signatures from any one county can be used to qualify a candidate. Eligible voters are Kansas residents who will reach age 18 before the election and who have grown corn, grain sorghum, soybeans, sunflowers, or wheat for the last three years.

Candidates may choose to complete their petition online, by paper or a combination of both at the online portal. Paper candidate registration packets are also available from the Kansas Department of Agriculture or directly from the individual grain commodity commissions.

Affordable housing

Gov. Laura Kelly addressed attendees of the Kansas Housing Corp.’s 17th annual Kansas Housing Conference held Aug. 20 in Wichita. The annual conference attracts housing professionals from across the state and region to explore trends, innovations and solutions to affordable housing.

“Housing is a fundamental human need, yet in far too many communities housing options are limited. Rising prices and aging structures mean that too often, Kansans struggle just to keep a roof over their heads,” Kelly said. “That’s why my administration has worked to expand our housing supply, help families afford to rent and buy homes, and rehabilitate older structures across the state — especially those in rural communities.”

Early in her administration, Kelly created the Office of Rural Prosperity, which in 2021 worked with the Kansas Housing Resources Corp. to release the findings of the first state housing needs assessment in 27 years.  

In this year’s budget, Kelly proposed adding $20 million to the state’s annual $2 million allotment for the program. She has also worked with a bipartisan group of legislators to allocate an additional $50 million for housing throughout the state.

With those investments and special one-time funding for projects, Kansas will see a two-year investment of more than $90 million targeted toward the state’s rural areas and small cities.

Soybean project proposals requested

The Kansas Soybean Commission is seeking a new set of project proposals that support the checkoff’s goal to grow soybean demand and productivity. Project proposals will be considered for the 2024 fiscal year, which begins July 1. The submission deadline is Sept. 30.

Commissioners seek projects related to crop breeding, production and environmental programs; animal and human nutrition or food safety studies; commercially significant, value-added projects that will use large quantities of soybeans; and domestic or international marketing and transportation programs.

Following the submission deadline, selected project leads are invited to present their project plan at the Dec. 15-17 KSC meeting in Topeka. Commissioners then choose to fund projects that complement the commission’s priorities for the year. To learn more, visit kansassoybeans.org/forms.