Thursday, March 8, 2007

Fasses named Master Farmer, Homemaker

by Nancy Peterson
KSU Research and Extension

Harvey and Nancy Jo Fasse, Effingham, will be honored as a 2006 Master Farmer-Master Farm Homemaker March 16 in Junction City.

Harvey and Nancy Jo Fasse

The Fasses are part of an active,
progressive Kansas farm family that is
continuing an agricultural tradition that
traces back to Nancy’s great-grandparents.
They are one of six Kansas couples
selected to receive a 2006 agricultural
award, which honor agricultural leadership, conservation, citizenship and community
service.

K-State Research and Extension and
Kansas Farmer Magazine sponsor the
award program, said Ray Ladd, Kansas
State University Research and Extension agricultural and natural resources agent in Atchison County. Recipients are selected from nominations submitted by county extension boards.

Harvey grew up on a Geary County farm that he also had hoped to farm. In 1962, just two years after Harvey had enrolled at Kansas State University, the family was, however, forced to relocate.

“The Geary County farm now is part of the Milford Reservoir,” he said.

Harvey, who had met and married Nancy Jo Hamon, Valley Falls, while at K-State, interrupted his education to help re-establish a family farm in Washington County.

He returned to K-State in 1965 to complete his degree in vocational agriculture education. When interviewing for a job, he was approached by Nancy’s father and brother and asked to consider contributing his management skills and labor to Hamon Seed Farms.

The couple accepted their offer and relocated to Atchison County to join her parents, John and Bertha Hamon, and her brother, Charles, and his wife, Mary Jo, to form a farm partnership that has since become a family held corporation known as Hamon Seed Farms Inc., located at Valley Falls.

“Our farm specializes in the production, conditioning and sales of high-quality certified seed (primarily wheat and soybeans),” Harvey said. “On-the-farm grain storage allows timely harvest of crop production and the control of shipping and marketing schedules.

“Keeping abreast of changes in the seed production industry is a priority and, while developing expertise in chemical applications has added some challenges, it also has allowed us to better serve our customers.”

Computerized record keeping has become integral to successful management and has made it possible for us to provide personalized newsletters and cost comparisons on seed and chemical needs to its customers, Harvey said.

The family corporation also has joined Lifeline Foods to market food grade non-genetically modified corn, he said. The processing plant is in St. Joseph, Mo., and is now adding ethanol production from the by-products ending with ethanol and a higher grade of dried distiller’s grain.

Beef cows are used to clean up non-tilled acres and produce stocker calves. While the family has maintained an active vaccination program, they also have joined the Livestock Marketing Association to verify their program and add value to the calves.

The family works together to maintain quality and service, and Harvey and brother-in law, Charles, discuss their schedules and needs each day.

When the couple was first married, Nancy, who earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from K-State, worked first as a Washington County Extension agent, and then as a home economist for the Kansas Power and Light Company, demonstrating the then new microwave ovens. She substitute taught when the couple’s three children — daughters Brenda Jo and Kaye Lynn, and son, James — were small, and has been a first-grade teacher for 20 years.

While Nancy Jo’s off-farm employment has provided supplemental income, she helps on the farm and actively supports farm programs and legislation. She currently is president of the Atchison County Farm Bureau.

In addition to raising their family of three, the couple is highly involved in their church, community and 4-H. Harvey has, for example, served as the 4-H woodworking leader for 17 years. Nancy Jo has served as a 4-H leader for 22 years and has been active on the library board.

The Fasses’ children are married, and Harvey and Nancy Jo have welcomed grandchildren and step-grandchildren. Daughter Brenda Jo Davids, has two sons, Bryan and Brandon, and is a stepmother to her husband, Donald’s, daughter, Donna, and son, Simeon. Daughter Kaye Lynn Kabus and her husband, John, have three children: daughter, Caroline, and sons, Conrad and Carter. Son James is stepfather to his wife Denise’s three children: daughters Alana and Estacia and son, Keegen. An older son, Zach, is living in New Zealand.

The Fasses also continue to make time to be involved in children’s activities in their community. Nancy Jo has led an effort to establish an after-school program in Christian education at their church.

The couple agrees that farming and farm life have been the right choice for their family.

“Being able to know that you are part of God’s plan, able to make choices and be near family and part of the community makes for a good life,” Harvey said.

As members of the 2006 class of Master Farmer-Master Farm Homemakers, Harvey and Nancy Jo Fasse join her brother, Charles, and his wife, Mary Jo, who were tapped for the honor in 1991 as the third generation of their family to earn the agricultural honor. Nancy Jo and Charles’ grandparents — Charles M. and Rose Hamon — were honored in 1936, and their parents, John and Bertha Hamon, were honored in 1975.

Friends of the couple who have an interest in attending the March 16 award banquet can call Sue Robinson (785-532-5820) for more information.