The Kennemer family of Carter, Oklahoma, received the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Committee District Two Farm and Ranch Family Recognition during the organization’s annual meeting on Friday, Nov. 10 in Norman.
Dale and Lori Kennemer, along with their children Bailey Kennemer and Derek and Levi Parker, have a diversified farm and ranch in Beckham County where they raise cattle and grow wheat, grain sorghum and alfalfa in a no-till production system.
Both Dale Kennemer and Lori Kennemer are fourth-generation agriculturalists. Dale grew up near the family’s current farm and Lori grew up on a dairy farm in northeastern Oklahoma. There’s no other way of life the couple would want for themselves and for their children.
“This is what I feel like I was meant to do,” Dale Kennemer said. “There’s not a value I can place on growing up on a farm and learning the sense of family and the work ethic that you learn on the farm. The sense of family that we get working together is not replaceable to me.”
He said the family focuses on conservation and improving the land using no-till and beneficial cover crops to increase soil health and the environment.
“We’re trying to find a balance between profitability and conservation and preserving the land and making it better than we found it,” Dale Kennemer said. “Through the cover crops we feel like we’re rebuilding and providing a better future for the soil and a better profit center.”
“I would just like to instill the values that Dale’s parents and my parents gave to us to our children as well,” Lori Kennemer said. “I just have fond memories of growing up on the farm and I would like our kids to have the same thing.”
Lori works off the farm as Sayre Public Schools’ Director of Special Education and speech pathologist. Dale serves on the Beckham County Farm Bureau board of directors and the family are active members of the First Baptist Church of Elk City.
OKFB’s Farm and Ranch Family Recognition program honors a farm and ranch family in each of OKFB’s nine districts who uphold the best traditions of Oklahoma agriculture and rural Oklahoma as they raise food and fiber for our state and beyond.
“Our Women’s Leadership Committee is proud to honor these families who have dedicated themselves to growing food for our world,” said Kitty Beavers, OKFB WLC Chairman. “Farming and ranching is an important way of life for our state, and these families deserve recognition for contributing to rural Oklahoma as they instill in their children the values of hard work and dedication that is needed throughout our state.”
As part of their recognition, the family received a cash award along with a custom sign to hang at their farm gate.
The Oklahoma Farm Bureau Annual Meeting is the organization’s largest gathering of farmers and ranchers every year. At the event, members vote on grassroots policy, elect leaders and award outstanding individuals. OKFB has a presence in all 77 Oklahoma counties and serves as the voice of agriculture and the rural way of life. To learn more, visit www.okfarmbureau.org.
