Statement to the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry

May 5, 1999

Mr. Chairman and members of the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, it is an honor to testify before you representing the State of Kansas, Kansas State University, my fellow Cooperative Extension Service Educators and the people of Kansas who are interested in Agricultural Risk Management issues. I also represent a colleague of mine, Mr. Clay Simons, who has been an equal partner in coordinating the education program in which I am involved.

As an educator, I want to describe for you our Kansas Risk Management Club Program. The Risk Management Club Program is in existence as a result of the demand for risk management education by Kansas agricultural producers and the leadership of Dr. Barry Flinchbaugh, our State Extension Leader in the Department Agricultural Economics. The program has been funded by grants from the USDA Risk Management Agency and Cooperative State Research Education and Extension Service.

The program started as a pilot project in four Kansas counties in the fall of 1997. We utilized the experiences from the four pilot clubs and offered the program to other county extension agents in the state. As a result, we currently work with twenty-eight clubs in Kansas. We have six hundred forty members in our clubs and they represent fifty-seven counties.

The Extension Risk Management Education program is unique in that members of each club designed their own educational program. We provided the clubs with a list of over one hundred potential topics to use as a guide in developing their program. The clubs were aggressive. The twenty-eight clubs combined requested that we deliver two hundred educational meetings in a four-month period, providing between five hundred and six hundred hours of risk management education. The topics include not only price risk and insurance topics, but look at total risk in the business of agricultural production.

Teaching the seminars were teaching, research and extension personnel from the Agricultural Economics Department and many representatives from the private sector. We worked with commodity brokers, marketing consultants, grain merchandisers, crop insurance agents, bankers, accountants, feedlot managers and other private sector representatives to numerous to mention.

In addition to the educational meetings, our department in cooperation with the Agricultural Economics Department at Texas A&M University, is developing a Risk Management Handbook. The handbook will eventually contain eighty to one hundred educational guides addressing risk management issues. Included in the handbook will be a guide on agricultural trade options. The handbook is currently about forty percent complete. I have one with me today.

The response to the program was far beyond what we had hoped. Because the members own the program, we experienced an attendance rate of eight-five to ninety percent. The evaluations of the program indicate an overwhelming desire of the members to continue the program. We recently received an e-mail from one of our members in the Clay County, Kansas club. In his message Curtis Steenbock told us that "after attending the risk management club seminars I can say I gained a very broad base of knowledge of risk management strategies. I found many new ideas that I can and am already applying to my business". Mr. Steenbock and his wife Kris own and operate a ninety cow dairy operation in central Kansas.

We face a challenge in the coming year. Our members expect more. We are working as a team of Agricultural Producers, County Agricultural Agents and State Extension Staff to provide more in-depth work on issues already addressed and the introduction of new issues. We look forward to this challenge and are proud our producers have high expectations.

I would again like to thank you for this opportunity, and would welcome any questions you may have.

Respectfully submitted,

David Rempe and Clay Simons, Extension Assistants

Department Agricultural Economics

Kansas State University

Manhattan, Kansas

K-State Research and Extension

Risk Management Club Topics By Category

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