New post honors the legacy of longtime agricultural policy expert
MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Kansas State University Department of Agricultural Economics announced it has surpassed its $2 million fundraising goal for the Barry Flinchbaugh Chair in Agricultural Economics.
The chair honors Flinchbaugh’s contribution to food and agricultural policy across the state and nation, as well as his contributions as a teacher, mentor and influencer.
“History records Flinchbaugh’s legacy as an influencer and educator in agricultural policy and economics. He leaves a lasting impact on the department, university and the agriculture industry,” said Allen Featherstone, department head. “Barry’s dream was to endow a chair into perpetuity that would provide risk capital to continue to build upon the national and state legacy that he established.”
Featherstone said the chair will be used to recruit and retain the highest quality faculty in the Department of Agricultural Economics and provide risk capital to allow innovative activities in agricultural policy
The goal of the chair, he added, is to continue the choices and consequences model of agricultural policy championed by Flinchbaugh. It is anticipated that a stakeholder advisory board will be established to guide the activities of the chair.
“Reaching the $2 million level merely opens the door for great things to start happening with the Flinchbaugh Chair,” said Rich Porter, owner of Porter Farms, Master of Agribusiness alum, and leading contributor to the Flinchbaugh Chair. “These activities include continued educational activities to keep Kansas State University prominent in the agricultural policy arena.”
Porter said K-State’s Department of Agricultural Economics would like to raise an additional $500,000 to fund activities connected with the Barry Flinchbaugh Center. “If you were considering donating toward the chair, we can still make great use of donations,” he said.
According to Featherstone, two programs have been established under the Chair:
• The Flinchbaugh Food and Agricultural Policy Fellowship Program, to provide a federal and state level agricultural policy experience to grow future policy leaders.
• The Flinchbaugh Agricultural Policy Student Scholarship, to provide an undergraduate scholarship to a student studying agricultural policy.
Additional contributions to the chair will help establish a ‘Kings and Kingmakers’ lecture series to continue Flinchbaugh’s legacy of sharing ag policy on a public stage; a Flinchbaugh Legislator Policy Bootcamp to provide new and seasoned legislators with agriculture and food education and capacity building experience on agricultural policy; and additional programs to provide research and education for current stakeholders to bring information to the people through conferences, policy forums and timely reporting of agricultural policy research.
For more information on the Flinchbaugh Chair, contact Featherstone at [email protected].
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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county extension offices, experiment fields, area extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus in Manhattan. For more information, visit www.ksre.ksu.edu. K-State Research and Extension is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
Source: Allen Featherstone
[email protected]
Written by: Mary Bowen
785-532-4435
[email protected]
