KDA will sponsor a tour of Shawnee County for legislators and others to highlight the importance of rural and urban conservation efforts. Fewer Kansans grew up on a farm or even visited their grandparents at the home place. Many Kansans of all walks of life do not understand the challenges faced by agriculture and agribusiness, nor do they understand why they should. All Kansas consumers and policy makers need to know the facts about agriculture's contribution to every Main Street from Atwood to Overland Park. In Kansas, agriculture means jobs.
Agriculture also means feeding people.
We produce food efficiently and safely. Kansas must export nearly half its products. The Department of Human Resources identifies value added agriculture as number three of the key industry clusters of the Kansas economy for 1997. Just behind aircraft and aerospace and the materials sectors, value-added agriculture employed 31,573 Kansans . This segment has grown by 17.1 percent since 1991.