A Republican state lawmaker has resigned his seat in the legislature to lead the state’s largest agricultural lobbying organization.
Wilson County farmer Joe Newland, of Neodesha, was elected president of Kansas Farm Bureau during the 104th annual meeting, which wrapped up in Manhattan Monday. Newland represented the 13th district in the Kansas House of Representatives, but resigned from the legislature, after being elected to replace the retiring Rich Felts, who had led the organization since 2014. Felts was honored during a Sunday banquet that included remarks from Sen. Jerry Moran.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Newland’s top priority will be water policy, with a goal of solving conservation problems within the Ogallala aquifer. KFB will also focus on medical marijuana and energy production as some of its key policy priorities during the 2023 legislative session.
A silent auction at the annual meeting raised $5,600 for the organizations End Hunger campaign and the KFB Foundation’s fundraiser “Let the Good Times Roll” also netted more than $25,000 toward that campaign.
