[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 15955]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO STEVE BACCUS

 Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. President, agriculture is one of the leading 
economic and cultural drivers in Kansas. Across our State, farmers and 
ranchers work hard every day to feed a growing world, often without the 
appreciation or recognition they deserve.
  I rise today to offer my sincere congratulations and thanks to a 
special Kansas farmer and friend. Steve Baccus is a native Kansan, a 
veteran, a husband, a father of five, and a grandfather whose fourth-
generation family farm in Ottawa County continues to produce wheat, 
corn, soybeans, and occasionally sunflowers and sorghum.
  For the past 17 years, Steve has served on the board of directors for 
Kansas Farm Bureau, including the last 12 as its president. Kansas Farm 
Bureau is our State's largest general farm organization, with nearly 
105,000 members. Under his leadership the organization has successfully 
influenced State and national agriculture policy, promoted rural 
values, and worked to show an increasingly urban populace how food is 
truly produced.
  In addition to his service as president of the Kansas Farm Bureau, 
Steve Baccus has been a true partner in government. He has led trade 
missions, presented testimony before Congress and State legislative 
committees, and told the complex story of agriculture for much of his 
adult life.
  Steve Baccus embodies many traits we can all admire: a deep love for 
the great State of Kansas, gratitude for the many hard-working families 
who provide the food, fuel, and fiber Americans rely on, and the 
respect of his peers across the Nation.
  I personally am grateful for Steve's many years of wise counsel to me 
and for his service to Kansas and agriculture. I wish him and his wife 
Patricia all the best in their next chapter.

                          ____________________