ROBERT PIERCE

   • Leader & Times

The second half of 2026 is officially here, and soon, farmers will be hitting the fields planting and harvesting this year’s corn crop.

This July and August, officials with Kansas Corn, along with the Kansas Corn Growers Association (KCGA) and the Kansas Corn Commission (KCC), are hitting the Sunflower State’s roads to provide producers with timely updates on key issues affecting agriculture and their community.

Back for its 11th year, the annual Summer Listening Tour will stop in five locations in July and August, including Aug. 11 in the Southwest Kansas communities of Scott City and Sublette.

Kansas Corn Commissioner and Satanta farmer Paige Clawson said Kansas Corn is a grower-led organization on both the association and commission side and funded by corn growers.

“Our goal as a commission and an association is to hear what is important on issues and topics to farmers going on in the farming corn industry and the things that are affecting them,” she said. “Every summer, we do listening tours across the state, and we try to hit different areas and don’t go back directly to the same town for a few years. That way, we can get a wide variety of farmers to attend those.”

Clawson said producers in the state are currently in the middle of the season.

“In Eastern Kansas, they’ll start in mid-August, and we’ll start about mid-September here in Western Kansas,” she said. “With the corn crop, we’re still just praying for rain.”

Kansas Corn Vice President of Market Development and Grower Services Connie Fischer said maturity dates for crops outside of Southwest Kansas, including Northwest and West Central Kansas, will likely come at a later date.

With meetings such as the Summer Listening Tour, Clawson said Kansas Corn gets updates from across the state, and she said thus far, this year’s corn crop is looking like a mixed bag.

“Some people have probably had too much moisture,” she said. “Some people have had the right amount, and others like a lot of us here in Southwest Kansas have some of our dryland crops and limited irrigation. We’re on borrowed time waiting for the next rain.”

As a highlight of this year’s Summer Listening Tour, producers will hear from Allie Devine from Devine, Donley & Murray LLC about wind, solar and data centers, particularly where those industries are going and what people need to know about them.

“She has worked on this topic a lot,” Fischer said. “What she’s going to do is talk about what’s going on specifically in that southwest part of the state, western part of the state on those three topics and some of the projects that are undergoing, some big picture items and visit with our members, growers about if you have these things that might be coming to your county or your area.”

Fischer said Devine will talk to producers about questions they should ask from both a county and taxation level.

“Maybe I’m an individual farmer, and I’m looking at contracts with those,” Fischer said. “It’s really looking at what do you need to know from that perspective.”

Fischer said KCGA does not have a policy related to being for or against any of these issues.

“This is really informational, and Allie’s an expert in these areas,” she said. “Her family has a farm in Meade County. She’ll be coming down to speak at both Scott City and Sublette to talk about those. It’s more informational and what she’s learned as she’s been working on these topics over the last several years.”

In regards to data centers, Fischer said Devine will provide general information on that topic and what is important for farmers and county commissioners.

Clawson said data centers are a frequent topic of conversation between producers, and much of this is due to getting educated about the unknowns of the issue and asking the right questions. She said having Devine come is timely because of the seemingly constant conversations about data centers.

“It’s something that’s on a lot of people’s minds,” Clawson said. “There’s lots of rumors, and there’s lots of opinions and different ways to look at it. Hopefully, she’ll help us to realize how we can educate ourselves about the topic.”

Recently, wind energy has also been a hot topic of conversation in Seward County, and Clawson said with Haskell County just to the north of Seward County, similar conversations are being heard there as well.

“There’s a lot of farmers who farm on both sides of the line,” she said. “They’re a part of that conversation, and I think it’s something that’s really debated on both sides who are for it as a way to profit from their land, but there’s a lot of people who are against it because of the heritage of land, the ability to farm and what it might be doing to weather cycles. Farmers are on both sides of the aisle.”

Fischer said the topics at the upcoming Summer Listening Tour stops will also help Kansas Corn leaders understand where farmers want them to focus their time and energy to better serve producers on these topics and other issues..

“We’re going to be asking these very same questions,” she said. “When we talk about wind and solar, it’s not just the wind turbines or solar panels, but it’s those transmission lines that also could have an impact in Southwest Kansas. We want to make sure people are aware, and Allie will talk about that.”

Fischer said she hopes Kansas Corn leaders will come away from the upcoming meetings with a better understanding of how people feel about these issues.

“What are the questions we can help answer for them and help them as these things happen in their community, which is really the role of the association – to work on policy and advocacy,” she said.

Concurrently, Fischer said she hopes producers will get a better understanding of what is going on with these issues in Southwest Kansas.

“Here are some things you need to be thinking about if you have these things going on in your county,” she said. “What should you be looking at in a contract?”

Overall, Fischer said Devine’s presentation will provide a better understanding of what is going on with these issues in a factual way and not as a way to lobby for or against them.

“Here are the facts as we know it today,” Fischer said. “We contract with Allie and her company to do work for Kansas Corn so we can stay abreast in these areas.”

In addition to talking about wind and solar energy and data centers, Clawson said those in attendance will likewise get updates on what Kansas Corn has accomplished and is doing with policy, research and advocacy, along hearing about state and federal policy topics and research.

Fischer emphasized Devine’s presentation is strictly informative.

“We’re not for or against,” Fischer said. “This is a very factual presentation. That doesn’t mean sometime in the future, we might have a position on certain parts of these things, but right now, we do not. This really is for our farmers and those in the community to understand it better. We know it’s confusing.”

Both Clawson and Fischer said the Summer Listening Tourn is super beneficial tool for leaders and producers.

“It’s a time to learn about what we’re doing as corn farmers,” Clawson said. “This topic is a big hot topic for a lot of people. The other benefit is anytime farmers get together, ideas get flowing. It’s a good community and time for fellowship and to be together.”

Fischer said the tour is a time to understand better what Kansas Corn staff are doing for farmers from both the commission and association side day in and day out.

“We have some new research plots happening in the Satanta area on fungicide advocacy and some other topics,” she said. “That’s new this year. People don’t know about that yet. It gives us a chance to say here’s some things going on, and this is how you check them out.”

The Scott City event will be hosted on from noon to 2 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 11, at Mom & Pops, Scott City, with registration and beverages beginning at 11:30 a.m.

The Sublette event will be hosted from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 11, at the Sublette American Legion Hall, with registration and beverages beginning at 5:30 p.m. Farmers and attendees can register for this stop at www.kscorn.com/sublettetour. A free meal is associated with the evening as well.

For more information or to register by phone, call 785-410-5009, or e-mail cfischer @ksgrains.com.

Fischer said she is excited for the upcoming tour stops in Scott City and Sublette.

“I love what I get to do for Kansas Corn, and this really is one of my favorite times,” she said. “We love to come and visit with farmers. Those are the people we serve every day. I especially excited about this topic, and I’m also excited about what’s happening at Kansas Corn both on the research side, the commission side and what we’ve been working on the policy side we feel is impactful and beneficial for corn farmers.”