High Plains Journal announces finalists for 2017 Agriculture Cares award for rural people who make a difference

In rural America, we think there's just something a little extra neighborly about our neighbors. People who "go above and beyond to improve their community, their country and their world. People who see a need in their community and find a way to meet it," Shauna Rumbaugh writes for High Plains Journal. "People who willingly serve their neighbors and inspire others to make a difference, no matter how small or wherever they may live."  That's a perfect description for the six reader-nominated finalists for the Journal's Agriculture Cares award for 2017. Read more about them:

Mel Thompson

Mel Thompson was nominated for his dedication to listening to constituents in his capacity as an agricultural assistant for Sen. Pat Roberts, the Kansas Republican who chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee. Part of the reason he knows so well what farmers care about is that he keeps a hand in his Medicine Lodge cattle farm while traveling the state listening to constituents' input about agriculture, Dave Bergmeier reports. "Having an agriculture background is very helpful as you experience first hand what producers face and you can relate to their concerns," Thompson told Bergmeier. "I enjoy making a difference and hopefully I can continue to make a difference . . . Sen. Roberts has been very supportive of me over many years and I value that partnership. It is a joy and pleasure if you do something you love and it never has become a job."

Earl Moss surrounded by his dedicated family (L-R): wife Opal,
son Gary, grandson Jaxsen, son Tim. (Photo by Larry Dreiling)

The Moss family of Sheridan County, Kansas, is a sterling example of loyalty, nominated for the way they came together to help the family patriarch after he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2003 at the age of 70, Larry Dreiling reports. Gary and Tim Moss, along with their mother Opal and their extended family, work hard to make sure their father Earl remains active in the family farm. When Earl wanted to help with the harvest, Gary and Tim designed and built a lift that would help their father get up into the combine to drive it. It worked for several years until a fall from the lift injured Earl's back and forced him to retire from combine driving. The brothers also build a lift on their boat trailer so their father could go fishing with them. These days Earl says he's the "advice giver" to his sons and grandson Jaxsen, who has joined the operation to take care of the cattle herd.

Rodney Beer

Rodney Beer is a longtime bulldozer driver, nominated after he brought a dump truck and excavator all the way from his Minnesota home to help clean up homes devastated by the wildfires in Clark County, Kansas. In all, he helped clean up seven homes and 13 outbuildings on three ranches, Kylene Scott reports. Though he did most of the work alone, his sons pitched in to help and his daughter raised money among friends and business associates to pay for almost all of the nearly $1,800 in diesel Beer needed for the trip. "To me, something like that is meant to be," he told Scott. "God provided. He did not have people give me more than I needed, but I had enough to pay for the diesel fuel."
 

Richard Porter

Richard Porter was nominated for using his business sense to carve out a profit on his cattle farm, then donating some of that profit back to his community of Reading, Kan. With degrees in chemical engineering and law, there's no arguing that he could have done anything he wanted to with his life. But he chose to return home to run the family cattle business in 1979; it was a lean time, but his ingenuity helped him find ways to make it profitable. And he says he's glad to have the opportunity to give back. "Some of the donations are given in memory of someone close to him that has passed away. Porter thinks this is a terrific way to honor that person, the money goes to something great and it is an efficient way to make a donation," Doug Rich reports.

Alec Gotto and his steer, J.D.
(Photo by Jennifer Carrico)

Alec Gotto is a 12-year-old boy who hasn't let a lifelong medical condition prevent him from pursuing his first love: showing cattle. Paralyzed from a bout with transverse myelitis as an infant, Alec depends on an electric wheelchair to help him get around. But he's always loved being in the cattle yards and pastures with his dad on their Winterset, Iowa farm, and two years ago began showing cattle, Jennifer Carrico reports. His family has helped make his dream a reality by carefully choosing a calf that will pay attention to Alec and not get spooked by his chair. But sometimes his chair can get mired in the wood chips of the show ring, so his family and friends are raising money to buy a wheelchair on tracks that will help him show cattle more easily. They say they have about three-quarters of the $25,000 needed and hope to make the purchase soon. (Click here if you want to donate.)

Ashland, Kan., is the last finalist, a community nominated by several people because of the way residents came together to help their neighbors after the Starbuck wildfires ravaged the rural town in March. Mayor Kendal Kay says the city was able to deploy resources effectively because of a task force that has been working to keep Ashland thriving, addressing such issues as youth activities, civic pride, health care, and economic development, Jennifer Latzke reports. The task force had previously identified people in the community who had certain skill sets, which made it much easier for the town to organize a response to the wildfires.