Agriculture Policy & Rural Life

About this Collection

Agriculture Policy & Rural Life is a collection of oral history interviews of Kansans from many rural parts of the state and from the wide range of occupations and experiences that contribute to agriculture policy and rural life. While farmers and ranchers are central to the story, the collection also includes the voices of educators, researchers, conservationists, lenders, business owners, cooperative leaders, journalists, public officials, and community leaders whose work has influenced agriculture policy and life in rural Kansas.

Interview of Matt Allen, Tom Nguyen, Atim Longa and Anthony Calderon, August 21, 2026

Interviewed by Robert St. Peter

This interview of four community leaders in Garden City is different from most of the interviews in this collection, first because it is a conversation among a group of people, and second, instead of talking about medical care or healthcare, they talked about things that are really important to how healthy Garden City is as a community. Participants are Matt Allen, current city manager of Garden City, Tom Nguyen, current Mayor and city commission member, Atim Longa, director of the Kansas Office for Refugees for the International Rescue Committee and Anthony Calderon, a wrestling coach and highway Show Morepatrolman. Their stories about how they came to Garden City are fascinating. Their accomplishments, working individually and together have made Garden City an innovative, welcoming place for a diverse population that has created economic growth for the area. Show Less

Interview of Robert (Bob) Frey, August 2, 2019

Interviewed by Jim McLean

Robert Frey had considerable impact on the legal system after he arrived in 1975. Court unification had passed as a constitutional amendment; now the legislature had to implement it. Early in his legislative career Frey took on some controversial issues, such as the hearings he held in the House Judiciary committee on the Posse Comitatus to ban paramilitary training and legislation ensuring every county had a judge. This interview does not deal with the plethora of issues which originated in the House Judiciary committee under Frey's leadership, such as codification of the sexual crimes including marital rape, Show Morebut it does reveal his philosophy about the law, the courts and judges. The interview also provides a glimpse into the rise of the conservative influence from a group know as "the Cowboys." The interview concludes with a discussion of activities on the Board of Tax Appeals. Show Less

Interview of Dave Heinemann, January 18, 2021

Interviewed by Rex Buchanan

In this early 2021 oral history interview, former State Representative Dave Heinemann recalls the influences that led him to run for office to represent the Garden City area in Finney County, Kansas. He attributes familiarity with farming in southwest Kansas, where water availability is always a challenge, with his understanding of water issues. In this interview, Heinemann talks about the various perspectives from which Kansans evaluate local control of water use. As Chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Heinemann was able to see how attitudes about public policies regarding the environment frequently cut across party lines. Show More

A prior oral history interview of Heinemann is included in the Statehouse Conversations collection on this site.

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Picture of Kathleen Holt and Quentin Hope

Interview of Kathleen Holt and Quentin Hope, August 14, 2026

Interviewed by Mary Galligan

In their 2026 oral history interview, Kathleen Holt and Quentin Hope recounted the establishment of High Plains Public Radio (HPPR) in western Kansas. During the interview Holt and Hope recalled how the station began in the late 1970s as a grassroots community project to create a source of intellectual and cultural connection in a sparsely populated region. They described overcoming technical and financial hurdles, repurposing an old school building and a former library to create studios, and placing radio equipment atop grain elevators to expand the reach of the station’s signal. They emphasized that the station was Show Morebuilt with a pioneering spirit of shared resources, relying on personal local credibility and a vast network of dedicated volunteers. Holt and Hope highlight HPPR's evolution into a regional resource that, at the time of the interview, served the western one-third of Kansas and parts of nearby Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas. Holt and Hope concluded their interview by expressing the wish that future generations sustain this civic legacy by adapting to new types of media while maintaining the core mission of strengthening the community.

Highlights -- short excerpts from the interview

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Interview of Gerald (Jerry) Karr, May 11, 2017

Interviewed by Janice Huston

This interview of Senator Jerry Karr by Janice Huston for the Lyon County Historical Society is lengthy, but gives great insight into the 18 years Karr spent in the Kansas Senate. It also covers his academic career which preceded his election and delves into rural life in Kansas. It begins with his Sierra Leone experiences teaching agricultural economics and other teaching jobs in the Midwest. Karr was elected to the state Senate in 1980 which is the time the farm crisis started boiling over in Kansas. During those first 10 years he developed legislation addressing Show Morethe farm crisis, including changing the method of selecting the Secretary of Agriculture, altering the classification and reappraisal of land, and regulating corporate hog farming. His service on the Joint Rules and Regulations Administrative committee helped him shape agricultural policy. He became Minority Leader ten years after his first election. Redistricting in 1991 ended up in the courts and spelled the end of many rural Democrats. There are numerous examples of policy making, particularly the details about the 1992 school finance legislation that amplify others’ accounts of that legislation. His examples of effective leadership and effective campaigning will be of interest to many. The interview also covers communication with constituents in a large district and has anecdotes about issues leaders have to deal with. Karr covers just about all aspects of leading a caucus and life in the Senate in the 1980s and 1990s. Show Less

Picture of Steve Morris in Kansas Senate chamber

Interview of Steve Morris, July 15, 2020

Interviewed by Joan Wagnon

Senate President Steve Morris gives a lengthy and detailed account of his twenty years in the Senate and his eight years as president. A former Hugoton school board member, Morris challenged a 16 year incumbent Democrat (Leroy Hayden) and won by a 2:1 margin in the 1992 election. During this period there were several high profile issues which Morris championed. Casino gambling passed in 2007 after a 12 hour filibuster. A coal-fired plant (Sunflower Electric) in Holcomb wanted to expand but Governor Sebelius vetoed that bill, twice. The Special Session of 2005 dealt with a Show MoreSupreme Court order to increase education funding to constitutional levels which took 12 days to develop a consensus. A 2010 transportation plan was passed during a recession. Morris initiated a three-university plan to increase the number of engineers in the state by 65 percent beginning in 2011, assisted by Senator Carolyn McGinn. Governor Sam Brownback's "tax experiment" which was passed in 2012 took huge amounts out of the transportation plan to close budget gaps. The interview contains a detailed account of the shenanigans that took place after the Senate refused to pass the Brownback bill. The Governor pleaded with Morris to reverse their action and send the bill to conference, which Morris did, only to find the House concurring to pass the original bill. Morris ran again, but was defeated in a Republican primary.

Another oral history interview of Morris is included in the Energy & Environment collection on this site.

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Interview of Steve Morris, August 22, 2024

Interviewed by Rex Buchanan

Former President of the Kansas Senate, Steve Morris, focuses in this 2024 oral history interview on the issues that impacted his far-southwestern Kansas Senate district during his time in the Senate, 1993-2013. Important issues included those relating to extraction of natural resources, agriculture, and the closely related issue of water. He also reflects on how tax policy has had a wide-ranging impact on the area, touching everything from school financing to the sense of disconnect experienced by some western Kansans. Morris's background as a farmer representing the area of the Hugoton natural gas field made him a logical Show Morechoice for appointment to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Morris looks back on the controversy around expansion of the Holcomb power plant -- a decision that Kansas may have gotten right "by accident." The interview touches on the economic and social impacts of the natural gas and agriculture industries in Hugoton and the 39th Senate District at-large, including the decline of the Hugoton Field and the introduction of irrigation, fracking, and renewable energy generation. Morris speculates on the future of agriculture and the changing demographics in southwestern Kansas.

Highlights -- short excerpts from the interview

Another oral history interview of Morris is included in the Statehouse Conversations collection on this site.

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