Photo credit: Jason Schmidt
Photo credit: Nick Levendofsky
Photo credit: Jim Richardson
Photo credit: Jason Schmidt
Meet The Board
How the KFU Board is Elected
The Kansas Farmers Union board of directors is made up of nine members, along with the Vice President and President.
The state is divided into a North District and a South District. Each district has three board members who serve three-year terms. One representative from each district is up for election each year.
The President and Vice President are elected every other year, and the positions of Treasurer, Secretary, and At-Large member are appointed by the KFU board of directors.
Donn Teske
President - Wheaton, KS
Donn was first elected president of Kansas Farmers Union in 2001 and was elected National Farmers Union Vice President in 2014, serving in that role until 2018. He owns and operates a farm near Wheaton in Pottawatomie County as a 5th generation farmer. Teske’s farm is approximately 2/3 grass and 1/3 crops. Prior to his time at KFU, Donn worked for the Kansas Rural Center and for Kansas State University Agricultural Economics Department as a farm financial analyst. He serves on the board of some twelve state, regional, and national boards concerning agriculture and the environment.
Matt Ubel
Vice President - Wheaton, KS
Matt is a generational farmer from northeast Kansas, where he raises row crops, cattle, and kids with his wife, Leah. Along with his brother, Matt owns and operates a custom application business. He is also active in local government at the county level.
Jack Geiger
Treasurer - Robinson, KS
Jack Geiger joined the KFU Board in 2022. He is a 6th generation northeast Kansas farmer, returning to the farm in
1993 with a B.S. in Agronomy and Natural Resource Management from KSU. With his family, he operates a 30+ year certified organic mixed grain and livestock farm. They hold a Kansas retail meat license and
direct market beef under the Geiger Beef brand. Jack currently serves on the CBB, the OCIA Board of Directors, and on the Rose Hill Cemetery Association. He mentors beginning organic farmers nationwide and maintains an educational channel, Geiger Farm on YouTube.
Herb Bartel
At-Large Director - Hillsboro, KS
Herb is a fourth generation owner/operator of his family’s 500-acre organic farm in Marion County. He is transitioning the crop land to a beginning farmer in order to free up time to work on augmenting the farm’s ability to adapt to climate change. His land restoration includes increasing organic matter and improving water retention. He is returning a drainage course into pre-European settlement conditions.
Herb has served multiple terms on the KFU board and has made several trips to various states on membership drives. He has always had a passion to diversify the income sources for KFU. After serving many years as State Treasurer, Herb passed the torch in 2022, but remains on the board in an at-large position.
Rosanna Bauman
South District - Garnett, KS
Rosanna Bauman is a farmer and serial ag entrepreneur from Garnett. Together with her parents and five siblings, Bauman has developed businesses that expand opportunities for local food production in eastern Kansas through USDA-inspected poultry and meat processing facilities and a non-GMO feed hub.
Term: 2024-2027
Jill Elmers
North District - Lawrence, KS
Jill has owned and operated Moon on the Meadow farm near Lawrence since 2003 and raises 30-40 different kinds of certified organic vegetables, small fruits, herbs and flowers on her farm’s 3 acres and the 30-acre Common Harvest Farms she owns with partners. Farm products are sold through the Community Mercantile grocery and Lawrence Farmers Market, nine restaurants, and collaborates with other farmers to provide 265 CSA shares. Jill was a founding member of the KC Food Hub and served as a chair of the Douglas County Food Policy Council. Term: 2026-2029
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Scott Kohl
North District - St. George, KS
Scott Kohl grew up on a wheat and cattle farm west of Hays, Kansas in Trego County, which he now manages via phone, email, and as many trips west as time allows. He has served on the board of directors for Riley County Historical Society, Wamego Chamber of Commerce, and currently serves on the Wamego Convention and Visitors Bureau board.
Term: 2024-2027
Donna Pearson McClish
South District - Wichita, KS
Multi-generation urban farmer; owner, and operator of Common Ground Producers and Growers, Inc., a unique mobile food hub that serves both urban and rural families; Executive Board Member Sedgwick County K- State Research and Extension; K-State Research and Extension Professional Development Committee for Community Vitality, Farm Aid COVID Selection Committee, member of PASA Sustainable Agriculture; president of Sedgwick County KFU chapter, SARE Grant Review Committee member, and appointed by Governor of Kansas as a member of the State Board of Agriculture. Term: 2026-2029
Jason Schmidt
At-Large Board Member - Whitewater, KS
Jason is a 5th generation farmer from rural Newton, moved back to his home community with his wife Carol to take over the family dairy farm. Jason has experience with a variety of farming systems having worked with organic vegetable farmers, grass-fed beef producers, and conventional grain and livestock farmers in the U.S. and abroad. Jason has a Master’s degree in Plant and Environmental Science from Clemson University researching grass-finished beef. Before moving back to the family farm, Jason worked for the Kansas Rural Center as a field organizer for the Clean Water Farms project.
Ryan Goertzen-Regier
South District - North Newton, KS
Ryan grew up and continues to work part-time on his family's fifth generation Kansas farm in Marion County that raises row crops, hogs, and cattle. He has an undergraduate degree in social work and is working on his Masters of Horticulture and Urban Food Systems at K-State. Ryan owns a beekeeping business, Sugargrove Apiaries, and is on the Harvey County Food and Farm Council.
Term: 2023-2026
Amanda Lindahl
North District - Enterprise, KS
Amanda has been growing food and community in the Kansas City metro for more than a decade supporting community and school gardens, orchards, and urban farmers. Her passion for local food has led her to a role supporting capacity building for local food systems across the state of Kansas. Amanda is also currently transitioning efforts from urban food production back to her rural roots in Dickinson County where she is working to take over stewardship of the 5th generation family farm. As a beginning land steward, Amanda is eager to learn from others, incorporating regenerative land management practices and agroforestry techniques.
Term: 2023-2026