The Republican candidate for governor said that dairies and cheese production facilities were an agricultural business area of growth the state should pursue.

“A Brownback Administration will roll out the welcome mat for dairies to come or expand in Kansas,” he said. “Many of the advantages that have led feedlot operations to our state apply equally to dairy production.”

Brownback said he would review the state’s regulations to determine how the state could help attract and grow such businesses.

“We need a major cheese processing plant in Kansas to expand market opportunities for our milk,” Brownback said.

From Kansas.com

Foster has been an active member and contributor to the Kansas dairy industry for over 30 years. Co-managing more than 1,000 acres of land with her husband, Foster and her family currently oversee 300 head of cattle and over 600 acres of crops. She has been involved in a variety of dairy organizations including Dairy Farmers of America, the Kansas Dairy Association and the National Dairy Board which she was an active member of for seven years. Foster graduated from Kansas State University with a bachelor’s in dairy production.

Harris works for Jackson Dairy in Hutchinson where, as the quality assurance manager, she is responsible for regulatory inspections along with assuring food safety and quality. In support of the Global Food Safety Initiative, Harris is certified by the Safe Quality Food Institute. Harris’ years of experience in both the quality assurance and research and development divisions of Jackson Dairy make her a valuable representative for Kansas dairy processors.

The Kansas Dairy Marketing Advisory Board consists of five appointed members who work closely with the Department of Agriculture to study and evaluate the need for establishing a statewide milk marketing order.

Read complete press release.

“Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe His commands, His laws and His decrees that I am giving you this day.” Deuteronomy 8: 11.

The plaque hanging in the office of Forget-Me-Not Farms, Cimarron, Kan., greets all visitors with this verse from the book of Deuteronomy. It’s more than a Bible verse, though. For the Boersma family of Forget-Me-Not Farms, it’s a company mission statement that reminds them to keep their priorities in place–faith, family and dairy farming.

“We’re a faith-based, family-oriented dairy,” said Ted Boersma. Boersma and his wife, Nancy, operate Forget-Me-Not Farms with their daughters and their husbands, Naci and Josh Littlejohn and Aundi and T.J. Curtis, as well as Ted’s parents, Andy and Grace Boersma.

The Boersmas have been dairying since 1984, when Boersma bought his first 140 head of dairy cows and transitioned from a family background in the floor covering business to dairy. “I looked around and there weren’t that many old men in floor covering,” Boersma said with a smile. Dairy, he said, offered his family an opportunity back then in Belen, N.M.

Building a family business
They slowly built the herd to a point where it would be beneficial to move to a larger facility near Clovis, N.M. In 1993, the Boersmas built a new dairy designed to hold 1,400 cows in the emerging dairy region of Clovis.

Eventually, though, the Clovis dairy market started to get crowded. If there was ever a time for expansion to accommodate a growing family and a growing dairy business, 2008 was it.

“Clovis and the west Texas area is a hotbed of dairies, and everyone wanted to expand,” Boersma said. “We just thought we’d start looking as far north and east as we could to build a bigger drylot dairy.” They wanted to move north for more available feed supplies, and east for closer milk processing facilities.

But, the Boersmas weren’t just looking to move across the state this time.

Turning an idea into reality
Boersma and a friend from Idaho decided to travel to Kansas to look at some land on a “lark.”

“There was a lot of wide open spaces and available feed,” Boersma said. Pretty soon, the lark turned into a full-blown business plan to move the family and the dairy to Kansas. Kansas offered land, water, feed, labor and milk processing facilities. More importantly, the state boasted ag-friendly communities and regulations.

So, Boersma came home and discussed his idea of relocating the dairy with his family and his spiritual and business advisors. Besides Naci and Aundi, the Boersmas have seven other children and many grandchildren spread from Clovis to Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan. With a couple of grown children and extended family ties in Clovis, it wasn’t a decision to be made on a whim. The family rallied around the idea, though, and plans were made for the big move.

“Ted’s always had a business vision of growth and opportunities for our family and all involved in the dairy,” said son-in-law Curtis. It was exciting to see this idea come to life, he added.

“When this whole thing started, I sought a lot of counsel,” Boersma said. “I talked to guys I trusted in the dairy business, and every one of them thought it was a good idea.” And so, in 2008, the Boersmas began building their new drylot dairy facility in Cimarron.

Read complete High Plains Journal story

As a virtual tour presenter, Royal Farms Dairy will give a 30-minute pictorial overview of their Garden City facility to Expo attendees, who include dairymen from across the world. Royal Farms’ presentation will cover a variety of topics, including feeding, milking, quality controls, herd health, profitability, herd genetics, facilities and calf raising.

This is the first time a Kansas operation has been selected for a virtual farm tour presentation at the World Dairy Expo. Last year’s Expo featured virtual tour presentations by dairies in Wisconsin, California, Iowa and Argentina.

The Kansas Department of Commerce sponsored Royal Farms Dairy’s application. The company stood out among Kansas dairies in 2010 for its outstanding resource conservation efforts, as well as its leadership in economic and community development in the Garden City and Dodge City areas.

“We’re very proud and excited that Royal Farms Dairy has been chosen to lead a virtual tour at the World Dairy Expo,” said J.J. Jones, agriculture marketing specialist for the Kansas Department of Commerce. “Not only is this a great opportunity for Royal Farms Dairy to promote their operation, but it gives us a chance to promote the entire state of Kansas as an ideal location for dairy farming. You can’t ask for a bigger stage than the World Dairy Expo.”

Royal Farms Dairy has emerged as a steward of land and resources through its water conservation efforts. The dairy minimizes water usage by using each gallon multiple times. Water that is used to cool milk is also used to flush pens and holding areas. Ultimately, this water is then stored in a lagoon until it is used to strategically fertilize and irrigate 1,600 acres, including the dairy and a neighboring farm’s fields. Royal Farms Dairy hopes to increase the number of irrigated acres to 2,720 acres in 2011. For their efforts, they have been honored with the Kansas Banker’s Association Environmental Stewardship Award.

In a state where crop production is dominant and very few families make a living on less than 1,000 acres, Royal Farms Dairy is able to employ 62 people, milk 6,200 cows and house 5,600 heifers – all on the net consumption of water equivalent to 1-2 circles of irrigated corn.

The World Dairy Expo serves as the world’s premier forum for dairy producers, companies and organizations to come together to compete and exchange ideas, knowledge, technology and commerce. The event takes place each year in Madison, Wis. For details, visit www.world-dairy-expo.com.

Today’s announcement is the latest good news for the Kansas Dairy Initiative, which was initiated by the Kansas Department of Commerce and the western Kansas Rural Economic Development Alliance to promote Kansas as an ideal location – and the “new frontier” – for dairy farming. For more information, visit the campaign hub at www.DairyInKansas.com.

“Kansas has a lot to offer dairy farmers,” Jones said. “Whether you’re an existing Kansas farmer or an out-of-state dairyman looking for a great new site, Kansas is an ideal location to establish and grow a dairy farm.”

For details, contact Joe Monaco, public information officer with the Kansas Department of Commerce, at (785) 296-3760 or jmonaco@kansascommerce.com.

Kansas is the land of wheat fields and cattle feedlots. It’s known for sunflowers, Dorothy Gale, and now–dairies.

The Kansas Department of Commerce is currently reaching out to large dairies looking to relocate into agriculture-friendly communities through its Kansas Dairy Initiative. As a part of that initiative, KDC and the western Kansas Rural Economic Development Alliance hosted the Southwest Kansas Dairy Tour. The day tour of large-scale dairies in the Garden City, Kan., area hosted dairy producers from Tennessee, Virginia, Kansas and Saudi Arabia. The tour showcased Royal Farms Dairy and Plymell Dairy in Garden City, and Forget-Me-Not Farms in Cimarron, as well as discussed the benefits of relocating to the area.

At Royal Farms Dairy, Steve Irsik spoke to the group about the benefits of locating the 6,000-head dry lot milking operation just east of Garden City. Irsik said dairies can not only count on the abundant feed supply from the area’s corn and forage growers, but also communities that understand the needs of agriculture production.

“We’re 15 miles from Garden City, five minutes from the regional airport there,” Irsik said. This area offers employees and their families good schools and almost all the amenities of other regions.

The quality of life factor was further discussed over lunch. A panel discussion covered schools, health care and other community benefits for employees in the region.

Jody Wacker, dairy coordinator for the Kansas Livestock Association, spoke about KLA’s assistance to relocating dairies. Dr. Bob Moser, Tribune, Kan., shared with the group his experience in expanding the health care available in his small western Kansas community. Dana Nanninga, Garden City, said she and her husband returned to their roots in Garden City to raise their family because of the opportunities in smaller towns. Carole Jordan, with KDC, said small communities welcome new businesses and the opportunity for growth they bring to the areas.

Read more complete story at High Plains Journal

Dodge City avoids recession

Participants visited Royal Farms Dairy and Plymell Dairy in Garden City and Forget-Me-Not Farms in Cimarron. All three operations are large-scale but have unique management models.

Read more at Progressive Dairyman

By SHAJIA AHMAD

sahmad@gctelegram.com

Though many dairy producers nationwide have been struggling to stay in business during the economic recession, Kansas dairy advocates say now is a prime time to open a dairy farm and that the Sunflower State is the ideal location to do so.

Organizers with the Kansas Dairy Initiative — an effort to attract new dairy farmers to the state — hosted a day-long tour of three area dairies Thursday, where local operators and state commerce officials provided facility tours and a first-hand glimpse into a dairy’s daily operations: how milk is extracted, processed and transported.

At the 960-acre Royal Farms Dairy about 15 miles east of Garden City, where about 50,000 gallons of milk are produced daily, dairy operator Steve Irsik said that abundant dairy feed supplies in the region, limited competition for space, a dependably dry climate and a growing regional milk market should be attractive to out-of-state dairy producers looking to relocate or those looking to go into the business.

“There’s a real synergy here between grain producing farmers and dairymen,” Irsik said to the group of about 15 local business leaders and dairy producers. And, Irsik added, ongoing efforts to bring a $90 million large cheese factory to nearby Dodge City would require nearly 7 million pounds of milk per day and similar ventures are in the works in the Texas panhandle and New Mexico.

The national dairy crisis has taken a heavy toll on dairy farm families nationwide, and the National Farmers Union estimates at least 2,000 small and large dairies have gone out of business over the last several years due to low producer prices and nationwide surplus production of milk — and therefore dairy products. In addition, decreased demand worldwide connected with the world financial meltdown has exacerbated the challenges facing America’s dairy producers, even in this corner of the state, Irsik added.

But dairy advocates also said that despite the closure of a few western Kansas dairies — Sante Fe Dairy in Grant County, which closed in 2008, and West Kansas Dairy in Hamilton County, which closed in 2009 — the operations in Kansas continue to be strong. Of just more than 400 dairy farms across the state, more than 20 dairies milking more than 1,000 cows are primarily concentrated in the western half of the state, and about 22 of them are continuing to produce just more than 65 percent of the state’s supply, according to Jody Wacker, a dairy coordinator with the Kansas Livestock Association.

Wacker said that despite high supplies of milk nationally, there is a relatively low “spirit of competition” locally because the success of local dairies is intricately tied to the success of local economies. In addition, the success of local dairy producers strengthens commodity prices for farmers across the region, she said.

“There’s no competition here for feed, land, facilities, etc. — there’s no way we’re near that in western Kansas,” she said.

The tour was hosted by the Kansas Department of Commerce and the western Kansas Rural Economic Development Alliance (wKREDA). Guests also toured Plymell Dairy in Finney County and Forget-Me-Not Farms in Gray County.

The three dairies chosen for the tour have three different business models and structures so that participants can get a feel for the entire dairy industry in Kansas, J.J. Jones, an agricultural marketing specialist with the state commerce department, said.

The day-long bus tour will take participants to three Southwest Kansas dairies – Royal Farms Dairy, Plymell Dairy and Forget-Me-Not Farms – where dairy operators will provide facility tours and answer questions about the dairy industry in Kansas. Topics to be discussed include water rights, waste disposal, climate, land availability, financial incentives and the overall business environment for dairying. The goal is to highlight Kansas as an ideal location for dairy farms, especially to out-of-state dairymen who might be considering a move to Kansas.

“Kansas has a lot to offer dairy farmers,” said Kansas Department of Commerce agricultural marketing specialist J.J. Jones, who will guide the day-long tour. “Whether you’re an existing Kansas farmer or an out-of-state dairyman looking for a great new site, Kansas is an ideal location to establish and grow a dairy farm. We’ve designed this tour to cover three Kansas dairies with three different business models and structures so that participants can get a feel for the entire dairy industry in Kansas.”

There is no charge to participate on the tour, and lunch will be provided. The tour begins in Garden City at 7:30 a.m. Participants will travel by bus to the three dairies before returning to Garden City at 5 p.m. Participants can reserve a hotel room for that evening at the Clarion Hotel in Garden City, where they’ll receive a group discount rate of $75 per night. Click here for tour itinerary.

To reserve your spot on the Southwest Kansas Dairy Tour, contact J.J. Jones with the Kansas Department of Commerce at (785) 296-3174 or jjones@kansascommerce.com.

The Southwest Kansas Dairy Tour is part of the Kansas Department of Commerce and wKREDA’s recently initiated Kansas Dairy Initiative, which is designed to promote Kansas as an ideal location – and the “new frontier” – for dairy farming.

For the full story, go to dodgecitydailyglobe.ks.newsmemory.com.