Kansas Ag Connection - New Partnership Enhances Rural Kansas Leadership Program

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New Partnership Enhances Rural Kansas Leadership Program
Kansas Ag Connection - 02/11/2020

Farm Credit Associations of Kansas is teaming up with the Kansas Agriculture and Rural Leadership Program to make it possible for KARL class participants to attend the Gettysburg Leadership Experience. The partnership makes the historic battle a lesson for modern-day decision making and leadership development.

The increased Farm Credit support means 30 KARL Class XV participants will study at the battlefield in Pennsylvania. The experience will immediately follow the class seminar in Washington, D.C. Feb. 11-15.

The announcement by Greg Reno, senior vice president with American AgCredit, Wichita, was made in Topeka during a KARL class seminar in January. Farm Credit has a long history with the KARL Program and holds similar deeply rooted values for agriculture and rural Kansas in what brings the two entities together as champions for leadership development.

"In this fast-paced world, we need to equip leaders with tools to make solid decisions and work together to help rural communities and agriculture prosper and grow," said Mark Winger, chief credit officer at Farm Credit of Western Kansas. Winger was a member of KARL Class III and a past KARL board chairman. "I'm excited that we are teaming up to increase our support for KARL and provide this incredible experience at Gettysburg. Our common values in agriculture and rural Kansas, and our support for the KARL Program to develop leaders makes good sense."

Current KARL board members see the partnership as making an already strong program even better. Doug Hofbauer, KARL board vice chair and retired Farm Credit executive says his engagement with the Gettysburg Leadership Experience was pivotal in his leadership development and serves as a reference for him in his career, community, regional, and state level service. "Strategies, interpersonal skills, relationships," says Hofbauer. "These all matter in how we achieve successful results."

Steve Baccus, KARL board chairman, lauded the commitment of Farm Credit Associations of Kansas to partner with KARL as a "significant opportunity to support both of our missions in favor of agriculture and our rural communities. It is our people here who hold dear the values that we cherish, the work ethic, the integrity, and commitment to make progress for a better world. Combining our efforts with Farm Credit Associations of Kansas and FCC Services shows that working together to expose the KARL class to this type of in-depth experience exemplifies the ultimate in partnership efforts. We are grateful for this team effort," said Baccus.

Farm Credit Associations of Kansas is comprised of American Ag Credit, Frontier Farm Credit, High Plains Farm Credit, and Farm Credit of Western Kansas. The KARL program is a non-profit, educational organization dedicated to developing leaders for agriculture, business and rural communities, and is a member of the International Association of Programs for Agricultural Leadership (IAPAL), represented in 40 states and multiple countries. For more information about KARL, call Jill Zimmerman at 785-532-6300, email karl@ksu.edu or visit the KARL website .

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