Task force’s study of rural Kansas sees ‘opportunity to be seized’

? Despite many seemingly intractable problems, reports of the death of rural life in Kansas are greatly exaggerated.

There are problems, certainly.

But a task force that has been examining rural concerns since August found much right about parts of the state that have been struggling with, among other problems, declining population, a weak farm economy and access to health care.

“Kansas’ rural people are at a watershed time. They are looking at new ways to grow and be flexible,” the task force’s new 35-page report states, adding that rural Kansas should be viewed as “an opportunity to be seized” instead of “a problem to be solved.”

The report also offers a long wish-list of proposals to improve the rural economy and stop the exodus of young people to urban areas, including the use of tax breaks, loans and bonds to help finance local ventures.

And it calls for development of a state energy policy, guarantee of high-quality health care, and approval of legislation that would provide mortgage revenue bonds for low- and moderate-income families.

Good neighbors

Dan Nagengast, a Douglas County farmer who helped lead the task force, said sustaining rural Kansas was important to society because the countryside nurtured independent, resourceful and community-minded people.

“A good neighbor is a good neighbor,” Nagengast said. “They may be conservative or liberal, but they are looking out for each other.”

Dan Nagengast and his daughter Laurel, 10, harvest some of the family's flower crop. Nagengast, who lives just outside Lawrence, led a governor's task force that focused on finding ways to sustain rural life in Kansas in the face of a major migration from rural to urban areas.

Shawn Pine Bay, co-owner of Pine Family Farms in Lawrence, said her work on the task force’s health and human services subcommittee found that rural concerns vary greatly.

“The challenges of western Kansas are completely different from Douglas County,” she said. “When your closest neighbor is 25 miles away, and the closest doctor is 40 miles away, that is a lot different than living here.”

Such diversity is exemplified in those working in the meatpacking industry in southwest Kansas. Grace Webdell, of Holcomb, is a resource teacher who served on the task force.

“This is really an exciting place,” Webdell said of her hometown, where, at public events, one can hear people speaking Spanish, Laotian, Vietnamese and German.

Problems persist

While the report enumerates the strength of rural life, it also notes numerous problems that need attention.

They include concerns about population loss, as young people leave the countryside and retirees move elsewhere. “Without talented younger people, the longtime residents who lead communities and help other residents may finally reach burnout,” the report said.

Some other problems cited: fewer locally owned banks, which has disrupted traditional relationships between farmers and bankers; large retailers that make it tough for independent business; Kansas’ No. 49 ranking in dollars spent to promote tourism; and disparity in health care.

None of the problems are new, task force members said, and all have been cited in reports from years past.

Study groups and committees looking at rural Kansas or agriculture have been formed in each of the past three gubernatorial administrations.

The difference between this report and others, Nagengast said, would be up to the follow-through by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who appointed the 43-member task force in August.

Monday meeting

A task force studying rural concerns recently released its findings. While the report enumerates the strength of rural life, it also notes problems that need attention. Those include:¢ A loss of population as young people reject farming and retirees move elsewhere.¢ The trend away from locally owned banks.¢ Absentee landowners.¢ Large “predatory” retailers that have put independent retailers out of business.¢ Disparity in health care from one community to the next.¢ Lack of professionalism in running government entities.

The task force is to meet Monday with Sebelius at the Rolling Hills Zoo conference center, southwest of Salina.

They will look at possible “action points” in each of eight areas studied: agriculture, community empowerment, diversified economy, energy, health care, human services, infrastructure and rural government.

“We have selected 10 or so of those points that we are going to pitch to her, and she is going to choose three or four and work on trying to make those happen,” Nagengast said.

Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Adrian Polansky said the work of assessing the state of rural Kansas was just phase one.

“We’re now entering phase two, where we will identify our most pressing goals and the actions we need to take to achieve them,” he said.

Rural interest

Task force member Laura McClure, of Osborne, a town of about 1,500 people 51 miles northeast of Hays, said the task force report would be followed because there was renewed interest in rural Kansas.

“I think that people (in urban areas) have realized that if we don’t survive in rural, remote Kansas, they aren’t going to survive either,” said McClure, who served in the Legislature for 10 years and now is economic director for the city of Osborne.

She said towns like hers were becoming more popular because they offered opportunity, access to broadband Internet, inexpensive housing and the lifestyle of a rural community.

“Our rural life has to be shared. We want to share our quality of life and give people the choice to move here or move back here,” she said.

Issue TeamsAgriculture and Diversified EconomyBrian Dunn, St. John; Galen Fink, Manhattan; Henry Gardiner, Ashland; Jay Garetson, Copeland; Gary Gore, Great Bend; Brenda Johnson, McDonald; Sharla Krenzel, Leoti; Roger Masenthin, Harper; Lynn Rundle, Manhattan; Terryl Spiker, Syracuse; and Dan Thalmann, Linn.Energy and InfrastructureJohn Cyr, Beloit; Dave Govert, Cunningham; Joe King, Lawrence; Mike Klein, Dodge City; Laura McClure, Osborne; Jerry McReynolds, Woodston; Gene Merry, Burlington; Tim Peterson, Monument; Nancy Spiegel, Formoso; Shirley Strnad, Scandia; and Ted Wary, Columbus.Government and Community EmpowermentLiz Hendricks, Howard; Mike Mayberry, Kiowa; Will Carpenter, El Dorado; Lori Fink, Manhattan; Gary Hobbie, Russell; Carla Kuhn, Jametown; Sally Hatcher, Leavenworth; Michele Flax, Overland Park; Robert Cole, Wamego; Reynaldo Mesa, Garden City; and Faye Minium, Morland.Health and Human ServicesShawn Pine Bay, Lawrence; Tom Bishop, Nortonville; Gary Kilgore, Chanute; Scott Moore, Ellsworth; Susan Mueller, Burlington; John Osse, Beloit; Marvin Penner, Hesston; Debbie Richter, Lindsborg; Marcia Walsh, Onaga; and Grace Webdell, Holcomb.Task Force Steering CommitteeTeams were led by the Task Force Steering Committee, which includes cochairs Marci Penner, Kansas Sampler Foundation, Inman, and Dan Nagengast, The Kansas Rural Center, Lawrence, with representation from the governor’s office by Secretary of Agriculture Adrian Polansky and Kansas Water Office Director Joe Harkins.