I spent time in Riley, Wabunsee, Geary and Pottawatomie Counties this past week meeting with farmers, ranchers and many representatives of some of our state’s agricultural and natural resource associations during my Conservation Tour, an event I have held frequently since beginning my time in Congress.

Conservation Tour gives me the opportunity to learn more about ongoing conservation efforts across the state, including water and soil conservation, grassland prairie preservation and river sustainability, and a variety of practices important to the Kansas agriculture industry.

This was my 12th Conservation Tour and this year we highlighted conservation efforts supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Headquarters as well as private landowner stewardship practices. I was lucky to have USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service Acting Chief Leonard Jordan join me — my thanks to all who participated in sharing their best practices and learning from one another.

We began the day with a discussion of the conservation efforts of Colbert Hills Golf Course in Manhattan, where landscape maintenance and preservation are essential to their success, and learned more about how golf courses throughout the country prioritize environmentally-conscious land management.

Our group then journeyed to Tuttle Creek, where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and The Nature Conservancy in Kansas briefed us on their ongoing efforts to improve reservoir management through the Sustainable Rivers Program, which is utilized nationwide.

From Tuttle Creek we moved on to Dibben Farms in Junction City, where father-son owners Craig and Brandon Dibben talked us through how their usage of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) has allowed them to install a sub-surface drip irrigation system, increasing crop yields and improving water conservation.

Over the lunch hour, we visited Moyer Ranch in the Flint Hills, where owner Rod Moyer and his wife Dara shared their efforts to secure a conservation easement for the 6,700 acre ranch, making certain it will remain a working cattle ranch, protecting the native species living on the property and even helping to lessen the chances that the important work being done at Fort Riley nearby is inhibited by the concerns of private landowners during training exercises. We also discussed the importance of seasonal burning to prevent the spread of sericea lespedeza, which has become a growing threat for many Kansas landowers.

We concluded our tour at Downey Ranch in Alma, where Joe Downey and his wife Barb gave us an up-close look at their controlled burning practices to preserve the Flint Hills ecosystem from the sericea lespedeza.

I appreciate the opportunity Kansas Conservation Tour gives me to hear firsthand from Kansas farmers and ranchers about the challenges they face, hard work they do, and innovative ideas they implement. The future of Kansas agriculture is bright.