Wheat Scoop: Liebst Earns 2020 Herb Clutter Memorial Scholarship

Cason Liebst has a passion for agriculture and the drive to inform consumers about what farmers and ranchers do. This led to him being chosen as the recipient of the 2020 Herb Clutter Memorial Scholarship. Liebst, a fourth generation farmer, will receive $1,000 per year as he attends Fort Hays State University majoring in agriculture, and taking classes in both agronomy and animal science.

“We need more informed people because we are losing more and more farms every year,” says Liebst. “Consumers need to know how much we do and how little we make.”

Liebst graduated from Medicine Lodge High School, ranking first in his class in spring 2020. He grew up on his family farm, where they farm roughly 2,000 acres and run about 600 head of commercial cows. He says his goals in college are to learn how to more efficiently manage livestock and grow crops, so he can come home and apply what he’s learned to take over the family farm and expand what they already have.

“I need to say thank you to this foundation for providing this scholarship to farm kids like me,” said Liebst. “There are many reasons that I am choosing to pursue a career in agriculture; these have a lot to do with the way my parents raised me. They haven’t told us how to live, but lived and let us watch them. They inspire not just me, but also my brother and sister, to live in a way that is honorable and to be thankful for the blessings God has given us.”

The Herb Clutter Memorial Scholarship is for incoming freshmen from Kansas who are pursuing a degree in agriculture and attending a two or four-year university or college. The Herb Clutter Memorial Scholarship was established through a fund in memory of Herbert W. Clutter, a farmer from Holcomb and the first president of the National Association of Wheat Growers, which was established in 1948. Clutter encouraged Kansas wheat farmers to organize as a strong, unified voice, which led to the formation of the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers in 1952. He encouraged research in education and industrial uses of wheat, improved variety development and methods to produce the best product at the lowest cost. Clutter’s efforts led to the formation of the Kansas Wheat Commission by the Kansas legislature, in 1957.

Students applying for this scholarship must complete a 400-500 word essay discussing why they chose a career path in agriculture.

In his essay, Liebst writes, “I can’t think of a better way to be raised. Farming teaches you from an early age about work ethic, stewardship, honesty and sacrifice…. Farming is an honorable profession, and that is why I am choosing it.”

For more information on the Herb Clutter Scholarship, visit kswheat.com/clutter.

Written by Shayna DeGroot, Kansas Wheat Communications Intern