[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 141 (Monday, October 3, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 3, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
        TRIBUTE TO DOYLE RAHJES, PRESIDENT OF KANSAS FARM BUREAU

  (Mr. ROBERTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks and include extraneous 
material.)
  Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Doyle Rahjes, 
president of the Kansas Farm Bureau. After 11 years as president and 
over a quarter of a century of active leadership, Doyle has announced 
he will step down at the end of his current term.
  During his service to the Kansas Farm Bureau, I have had the 
privilege of working with Doyle on countless occasions. He has been an 
outstanding leader, a loyal ally, trusted advisor and true friend to 
the entire Kansas department.
  Doyle has also been a national leader in The American Farm Bureau 
Federation. His insights as a Kansas farmer/rancher have made him a 
popular and most effective witness before the House and Senate 
Agriculture Committees on behalf of the American Farm Bureau. He has 
served on the Farm Bureau board of directors and executive committee 
and has chaired the organization's International Trade Committee.
  In addition to his Farm Bureau service, Doyle has served U.S. 
agriculture and rural America in many capacities. He is on the 
executive committee of the National Livestock and Meat Board, a board 
member for the Huck Boyd Rural Development Institute and a past member 
of the Kansas City Federal Reserve District Economic Advisory 
Committee. For his outstanding contributions to the agricultural 
community, Doyle has received numerous awards and citations.
  But his most enduring legacy will be his service for the past 11 
years as president of the Kansas Farm Bureau. Through one farm crisis, 
two farm bills, and many more farm challenges, Doyle has been the calm, 
clear voice of reason that has kept the Kansas Farm Bureau ship on 
course. His leadership and friendship will be sorely missed.
  I wish Doyle, his wife Charlotte and their children and grandchildren 
all the best in the years to come as he now has more time to spend on 
his farm and with his family at his home in Agra, Kansas. President 
Rahjes's biography and the Kansas Farm Bureau press statement of his 
retirement follows.
  Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record President Rahjes' biography and 
the Kansas Farm Bureau press statement of his retirement, as follows:

                  Biographical Outline of Doyle Rahjes

       Doyle D. Rahjes is President of Kansas Farm Bureau. As 
     President, he serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of 
     Kansas Farm Bureau and its Affiliated Companies and is chief 
     spokesman for the organization.
       He is a native of Agra, Kansas, in Phillips County and 
     continues to farm there in partnership with his nephew. They 
     raise wheat, milo and beef cattle.
       After serving as county Farm Bureau president and a member 
     of the Kansas Farm Bureau Resolutions Committee, Rahjes was 
     elected to this Kansas Farm Bureau Board of Directors in 
     1971. He served as Vice President from 1973 until 1983 when 
     he became President.
       Prior to his election as President, he served on the 
     Governor's Task Force on Water Resources and subsequently 
     served for eight years on the Kansas Water Authority. In 
     1978, by invitation of President Carter and the Governor of 
     Kansas, he represented Kansas at the White House Conference 
     on National Balanced Growth and Economic Development.
       Doyle is a member of the American Farm Bureau Federation 
     Board of Directors and the AFBF Executive Committee. He is a 
     past member of the Kansas City Federal Reserve 10th District 
     Economic Advisory Committee and a member of the Executive 
     Committee of the National Livestock and Meat Board.
       As a person who is vitally interested in agriculture and 
     rural America, he extends his advocacy by serving on the 
     Board of Directors of the National Institute for Rural 
     Development at Kansas State University. He is also a member 
     of the Board of Directors of the Mid-States Port Authority 
     that is providing oversight to a successful short line rail 
     service in North Central and Northwest Kansas that extends 
     into Colorado and Nebraska.
       He is recipient of the Kansas Farm Bureau Leaders of the 
     Year Award and received an Honorary State Farmer degree by 
     the FFA. He is also recipient of the Kansas Banker's Soil 
     Conservation Award and the Friend of Agriculture Award from 
     Clay County Farm Bureau.
       Appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture, he served as a 
     member of the USDA Advisory Committee on Futures and Options 
     and served as a member of the Commission for the Improvement 
     of Federal Crop Insurance.
       He and his wife, Charlotte, are natives of Phillips County, 
     Kansas. They have two children: Lori Rahjes Ferguson, farm 
     wife and school teacher, and Kenneth, who is involved in 
     management of the family farm.
       As President of the state's largest farm organization, 
     Rahjes has gained wide acceptance throughout the nation as 
     major farm leader and spokesman for agriculture.
                                  ____


           [Kansas Farm Bureau News Release, Sept. 20, 1994]

           Rahjes Will Not Seek Re-Election as KFB President

       Manhattan.--After more than a quarter century as a leader 
     in Farm Bureau, Doyle Rahjes announced he will not seek re-
     election as president of the state's largest farm 
     organization. The announcement was made in a letter to county 
     Farm Bureau association presidents in Kansas.
       ``It has been a great honor for me to serve as president of 
     Kansas Farm Bureau the past 11 years,'' Rahjes said in a 
     statement from his Manhattan office. ``It's time to return to 
     the farm and our grandsons.''
       The Phillips County farmer/rancher who raises wheat, milo 
     and beef cattle on his northwestern Kansas farm will continue 
     to serve as president until the conclusion of the KFB annual 
     meeting November 17-19, in Wichita. A new president will be 
     elected at that time.
       Rahjes has served as KFB president since November 1983. 
     Prior to that he served as vice president for 10 years. 
     Rahjes was elected to the KFB board of directors in 1971 and 
     first served on the Phillips County FB board beginning in 
     1966.
       In addition to his state leadership in agricultural issues, 
     Rahjes has been a key leader with the American Farm Bureau 
     Federation. Most recently he has served on the AFBF Executive 
     Committee and also chaired the AFBF International Trade 
     Committee.
       Under his direction, Farm Bureau continued to be a strong 
     agricultural voice representing farmers and ranchers in 
     Kansas.
       ``Very few individuals have had an opportunity to work with 
     an organization that is made up of such strong and devoted 
     members as I have with Farm Bureau in Kansas,'' Rahjes said. 
     ``While I'm looking forward to a less stressful pace, I'm 
     going to deeply miss my day-to-day contact with Farm Bureau 
     members and other agricultural leaders.
       ``Farm Bureau is the farm organization where individual 
     member concerns are heard and acted on through the democratic 
     process at the county, state, national and international 
     level,'' Rahjes said. ``No other farm organization comes 
     close to this kind of grass roots involvement. It has been a 
     pleasure and a privilege to have served such an outstanding 
     organization.''

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