Food & Farm, April 2026

FoodFarm
Written By Bill Heatherman

April is upon us. Happy Easter for all who celebrate.

This is a year of great consequence for Kansas and the US - we have room for you to join us in the work ahead. Here are some Food and Farm Caucus highlights:

Common Ground in Oberlin

Join the Decatur County Democrats at friends with Common Ground, a major candidate forum in Northwest Kansas, to be held Saturday, April 11 from 9-3 pm. Nearly all the major statewide candidates will be speaking. Kylie Kilmer, candidate for House District 70 in Abilene, will lead a training on Rural Organizing. Our Food and Farm Caucus will also be doing a quick orientation to 2026 campaigning.

Washington Days, Food & Farm Highlights

The Food and Farm Caucus convened its Annual Meeting at 9 am on March 7, 2026 in Topeka as part of Washington Days annual convention. Kylie Kilmer led a program title “Gaining Confidence & Strategies to Run as a Rural Democrat”. She has embraced the adaptive grass roots campaign approach outlined in Dirt Road Revival. https://www.kilmerforkansas.com/

Over 60 members and allies attended the meeting which also included introduction to Caucus’s initiatives for helping County Parties grow and campaign in 2026. A host of 2026 candidates also made their speedy 45 second pitches to members for support - we welcomed over 16 candidates during the course of the meeting. See our photo gallery for meeting highlights.

We continue to invest in this Harvest Blue platform, we are co-hosting events, yard sign networks, social media engagement, and we recently added Scale to Win texting capacity. This builds on our work in 2025 which included support to western Kansas and rural Democrats via the Democracy Fest events.

The Caucus hosted a table throughout the Caucus - connecting with fellow Democrats and making “Real Kansas” yard signs available. [To order Still Fed up Signs on your own, visit the Salina Indivisible/Push Pac Page: https://salinaindivisible.org/yardsigns/ ]

During the Saturday Luncheon, our Caucus Chair Bill H was honored to receive the Chair's Special Award Recipient for Organizing and Party Building - an award he shared with Melinda Lavon of the Progressive Caucus/Congressional District 1 Committee. Bill and Melinda worked together with others on planning for last years Democracy Fest events in Colby, Dodge City and Hays.

On Friday night, we hosted an Ice Cream Social table during the hospitality reception - special thanks to our co-host Progressive Caucus and major sponsors including Blue Dottes & Hank Chamberlain, Lee Cross w/Cross Law Firm, the Disabilities and Rural Caucuses and the Jackson, Kingman and Republic County Democratic Parties.

Members who would like to engage are invited to Contact Us. Dues may be paid online. Donations to support the Caucus in all these initiatives are always welcome: donation via Act Blue

Take Action - Northwest Initiative and All Kansas Support

To put these capacities in action, the Caucus is specifically focused in high impact support to counties and candidates in Northwest Kansas - building on relationships and momentum. We are also sharing our tools and support statewide in any County or sector that wishes to partner. If you have a network of Democrats who would like to connect, Contact Us.

Busy with Events

Check out the Community Calendar for statewide and local party events, including

Bill Heatherman
Next

Candidate Mingle in Newton, 5/9