MLC Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee Meeting

The Midwestern Legislative Conference Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee met in July in conjunction with the 76th Annual Meeting of the Midwestern Legislative Conference.

Committee members took part in a roundtable discussion of recent developments related to farm policy in their states and provinces, and explored the impacts of the supply-chain crunch in sectors such as agriculture and energy.

Presentations from 2022 meeting and related sessions

• “Planning for Rural Midwestern Community and Economic Development” | Christopher Merrett, Director of the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs, Western Illinois University » 
• “Placemaking as an Economic Strategy” | Kara Harders, Community Vitality Field Specialist, South Dakota State University » 
• Kansas Sen. Carolyn McGinn, 2022 Chair of the Midwestern Legislative Conference »
• Lucas Bessire, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma, and Author of “Running Out: In Search of Water on the High Plains” »
• Kansas Rep. Ron Highland »
• “View from the Midwest on the Supply Chain Crunch” | Cortney Cowley, Senior Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City »

During a series of pre-meeting sites visits, the committee traveled to different sites that featured how Kansas and the Wichita region are using state-of-the-art technologies in areas such as water quality, water management and energy production. Visits were made to:

• Kansas Natural Remedies, an indoor hemp cultivator that uses state-of-the-art technology and processes to grow premium hemp flowers;
• Evergy System Control Center, the site for integration and control of Evergy’s diverse energy production systems to improve the efficiency and resiliency of production and distribution;
• farms where alternative crops are being grown; and
• the new Wichita Water Treatment Plant and Kansas’ only Aquifer Storage and Recovery Project. (Water policy is the focus of the MLC Chair’s Initiative of Kansas Sen. Carolyn McGinn.)