There’s new hope in the Douglas County agriculture industry these days. And it’s not coming from a new weather forecast or predictions of higher commodity prices.

It’s coming from a monthly meeting.

The Lawrence Chamber of Commerce in 2002 started a new Agribusiness Network that meets monthly to brainstorm ways to improve the economics of agriculture in the county.

Its meetings attract an average crowd of 20 to 30 people from different segments of the agriculture industry. They talk about everything from the prospects of attracting a new multimillion-dollar ethanol plant to smaller goals like starting a scholarship program to encourage young people to enter the agriculture industry.

After a year in which drought reduced crop yields to well below average, farmers are looking for something positive.

“The agriculture industry hasn’t been too positive for anybody the last few years,” said Brian Pine, a Lawrence farmer and chairman of the new group. “This won’t be the answer to all our problems, but I think it gives the area farmers some hope that we can find some solutions. It gives us some hope that agriculture can still be viable in Douglas County.”

Seeking value

One of the bigger goals of the group is for farmers and other business people who have an interest in agriculture to come together and think about nontraditional ways to grow the agriculture industry.

In an increasingly urban county, said Bill Wood, Douglas County extension agent, thinking innovatively is a must for today’s farmer if he hopes to survive.

Brian Pine, left, is chairman of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce's Agribusiness Network. The committee studies ways to use agriculture to boost economic development in the country.

“Just think about it,” Wood said. “If a farmer is renting a quarter section of ground and it gets sold off for a housing development, where is he going to find another quarter section of ground to farm?

“In Douglas County, he’s not going to find one. If he wants to keep his same amount of revenue, he’s going to have to figure out ways to grow more high-dollar crops on less ground.”

That effort is already under way. Pine’s family, for example, grow turf sod on a large percentage of their acreage. Other farmers have turned to such nontraditional crops as grapes, flowers, asparagus and pumpkins to supplement their income.

Thinking beyond the field

The new group hopes to spur similar ideas that farmers can make work in Douglas County. But the group also will be encouraging farmers to think even bigger.

“I think our ultimate goal is whether we can attract a big agribusiness processor or manufacturer to Lawrence that might help area farmers sell some of their commodities at a better price than what they can get on the open market right now,” said Bob Rhoton, a vice president with Lawrence’s Frontier Farm Credit.

That means projects like an ethanol plant where farmers could directly sell their corn for a premium price, or a soy diesel plant where farmers could have a better market for their soybeans.

A longtime cattle roper, Roland Hein, left, Overland Park, watches ropers lasso steers while Kenny Boone, LaCygne, sits atop his horse at the Douglas County 4-H Fairgrounds. County commissioners are considering a plan to expand the fairgrounds by buying 45 acres between the fairgrounds and the idled Farmland fertilizer plant.

“There are numerous possibilities,” said Lynn Parman, vice president of economic development for the chamber. “This whole idea of value-added agriculture is a very emerging trend in the economic development field.

“That’s one of the major reasons we started this network. There are a lot of other communities that are aggressively pursuing value-added agriculture, and we didn’t want to get left behind.”

Parman has had experience in creating value-added agriculture projects. When she was an economic development official in St. Joseph, Mo., she helped a group of area farmers band together to form a cooperative to purchase a Quaker Oats plant that had recently closed. The plant now is producing organic grain products, and area farmers have a new market to sell their commodities.

Farming for KU

Lawrence doesn’t have an abandoned Quaker Oats plant to capitalize off of, group members said, but it does have Kansas University.

Parman and others believe the area agriculture community can become players in the city’s emerging life sciences industry. For example, pharmaceutical companies in other parts of the country already are paying farmers to grow genetically modified corn, soybeans and wheat. The crops aren’t harvested for food purposes, but rather are used in the production of drugs. Researchers are finding they can extract specific genes, proteins and amino acids from the crops cheaper than they can produce them in a lab.

“It is all in our imaginations right now, and we’d be the first to admit we don’t know what is possible yet, but we think with having KU here, we at least have a chance to be a part of something like that,” Wood said.

Other goals

In addition to looking for value-added opportunities, the group also hopes to become the leading advocacy group for agricultural interests in Douglas County.

The group earlier this year sent some of its members to testify in front of a Kansas legislative committee about the need to change a law requiring farmers to comply with certain regulations related to nationally recognized historic landmarks. The issue arose after farmers in the Baldwin area who have land near historic wagon ruts along the Santa Fe Trail said the regulations might limit their private property rights.

The group also hoped to be a good networking opportunity for farmers. Pine said that was one of the aspects he was most excited about because unlike other agriculture groups, the membership is not exclusively farmers, but also includes bankers, landscapers, venture capitalists and other professionals.

The organization also planned to promote a greater understanding of agriculture activities to the general public. It worked with the K-State Extension Service to be host to its Douglas County Slice of Agriculture Program, which teaches area grade school students about the role farmers play in providing foods that students regularly eat.

Pine said the group was hoping to raise funds to create a scholarship program that would provide money for at least one area high school student a year to receive training or higher education toward a career in agriculture.