Challenges to production agriculture in Pottawatomie County, Kansas, USA

Abstract

Pottawatomie County, Kansas, features Flint Hills prairie, Oregon Trail history, lots of livestock, and commodity crop production. In 2023, it posted the highest population growth rate in Kansas, with high rates of community well-being and exurban and suburban sprawl. For farmers who have depended on maintaining and adding contiguous farmland to their operations, it has become increas­ingly difficult for them to compete with the prices that residential and business developers offer for farmland. Primary-occupation farmers also feel threatened by concentrated farm sales, redistricting, and an expanded county commission. I used Flora et al.’s (2016) community capital framework to assess rising tensions between and among stake­holders with interests in farming and nonfarm stakeholders with interests in development. Social capital—which includes social trust, networks, and shared values that people can cultivate and use to improve their livelihoods—was especially germane. To better understand the nature of social capital within and between the two stakeholder groups, I integrated the eco-social symbiotic spectrum (rang­ing from mutualism to competition) to perform a reflexive thematic analysis of 22 semi-structured interviews. Interviewees shared their experiences with, and perceptions of, the changing county dynamics, revealing how different symbiotic rela­tionships influenced social capital accrual. Inter­viewees’ perceptions largely depended on their occupation. Primary-occupation farmers viewed their relationships with development stakeholders as parasitic, with the latter benefiting from the for­mer, and their relationships with other farmers as competitive, undermining their social capital. Con­versely, secondary-occupation farmers and com­munity leaders expressed commensalism and mutu­alism with their networks. To ease tensions among stakeholder groups, the county and/or certain townships could implement property tax reforms —to reduce the degree to which farmland owners subsidize exurban and suburban expansion—and invest in more locally produced specialty crop infrastructure.