Kansas Soybean Association honors Sen. Pat Roberts with Meritorious Service Award

Growers applaud Roberts for years dedicated to progressing ag policy

January 10, 2024 – After completing remarks as the featured speaker of the Kansas Soybean Expo Jan. 10, distinguished former U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts received the Meritorious Service Award from the Kansas Soybean Association.

This award honors a person, company or organization who has dedicated a significant portion of their time or resources working to the benefit of soybean farmers – a fitting description for Roberts’s tenure in Washington, D.C.

Roberts boasts a political career that spans 10 presidencies. He was first elected in 1980 to the House of Representatives for the First District of Kansas. In 1996, he joined the Senate and served Kansas for 24 years before announcing he would not run for re-election in 2019. Roberts is the longest serving member of congress in the history of Kansas.

“Pat Roberts is well-deserving of this award because of his commitment to Kansas agriculture, Charles Atkinson, Great Bend, says. “I have had the honor to work with Pat on three farm bills over the years, and he always took time to listen, ask us the hard questions and challenge us as Kansas farmers to engage with other members of the Senate to carry on agriculture’s story.”

Atkinson began his role as the American Soybean Association representative for Kansas in 2015 and worked with Roberts through his last year in the Senate.

Atkinson says of Roberts, “He is a well-respected person in Washington, D.C., and has been a mentor to many politicians through his leadership, determination and accomplishment. It is an honor to call him Senator and friend.”

Bill Wiley, Lyndon, agrees with this sentiment.

“Sen. Roberts is certainly deserving of the Meritorius Service Award,” Wiley says. “He has been a friend to Kansas agriculture.”

Wiley served as the Kansas ASA representative from 2001 to 2006 and visited with Roberts on numerous occasions on behalf of soybean growers. He describes Roberts as a realistic, down-to-earth politician who knew agricultural terms and policy.

“He talked about what was realistic and kept our feet to the fire to make us do our jobs better so he could better do his,” Wiley says. “He worked to secure funding for international marketing because he understood those markets were key to improving farm incomes. Crop insurance really came to life under his watch, and that’s been one of the biggest advantages to farming in the last 50 years.”

Bob Henry, Robinson, who succeeded Wiley as the ASA representative, echoes those sentiments about Roberts’s scope of work.

“We had good conversations on crop insurance because Pat knew how important that was for farmers in Kansas and across the nation,” Henry says. “He was very knowledgeable and open to what we were talking about in regard to soybeans and was a good friend to the farmers while he led the agriculture committee. Pat is a very strong advocate for Kansas agriculture.”

Henry represented Kansas soybean growers from 2008 to 2015 and says, in that time, biodiesel was a key point of discussion when visiting with Sen. Roberts. When ASA selected Roberts for its Soy Champion Award in 2014, Henry was Vice President of ASA and presented the award in Washington, D.C.

“Pat’s office was always fun,” Henry chuckles. “He told a lot of stories, and I always enjoyed visiting with him.”

Roberts served as Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, becoming the first in history to hold this position in both the House and the Senate. He also completed important work on the Senate Finance Committee Senate Intelligence Committee, and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Roberts is a fourth generation Kansan born in Topeka. He graduated from Holton High School, then earned his journalism degree from Kansas State University and served in the U.S. Marine Corps for four years. Sen. Roberts and his wife, Franki, have three children, David, Ashleigh and Anne-Wesley, and seven grandchildren.

The Kansas Soybean Association hosted its annual Expo Jan. 10 at the Maner Conference Center in Topeka. Sen. Roberts is no stranger to the Expo; he had previously keynoted the luncheon in 2001 and 2013. KSA awarded Roberts with the Friend of Soy Award in 2013.

Soybean growers across Kansas thank Sen. Roberts for dedicating 24 years to advocating for critical agricultural policies.