Families will be honored during banquet in Manhattan on March 13
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Six couples will be honored on March 13 as the 2026 class of Kansas Master Farm Families in recognition of their leadership in agriculture, environmental stewardship and service to their communities.
The statewide awards program is in its 99th year and is sponsored by K-State Extension and Kansas Farmer Magazine.
This year’s honorees are:
- Dean and Marlene Davis, Maple Hill.
- David and Sheila Govert, Cunningham.
- Garry and Kathy Holloway, Kincaid.
- Caleb and Shanda Mattix, Colby.
- Keith and Connie Miller, Great Bend.
- Roger and Elizabeth Ploeger, Morrill.
The annual awards banquet will begin at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 13 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Manhattan.
Below are short biographies on each couple:
Dean and Marlene Davis, Maple Hill (Wabaunsee County)
In their 60 years of farming and ranching, Dean and Marlene Davis have consistently subscribed to the long-time 4-H motto in everything they’ve done: “To Make the Best Better.”
Upon graduating from Kansas State University, they started with seven bred heifers in 1966, and eventually purchased the family farm in the late 1970s. It centered on corn, soybean, and milo production along with the pasture ground.
However, the agriculture economy crisis of the 1980s took its toll, and Dean and Marlene lost ownership of the farm ground. Undaunted, they retained the cow herd and started over as Davis Herefords near Maple Hill.
Today, Dean and Marlene, in partnership with son Danny, run registered Hereford cows via both a spring and a fall calving program, and annually sell bulls and replacement heifers, targeting the commercial cattle producer as their market base. They maintain thorough data records on herd genetics and performance. Danny also serves as the agriculture education teacher at nearby Wabaunsee High School.
Davis Herefords has routinely exhibited their cattle at the National Western Stock Show in Denver and shows at Ft. Worth, Kansas City and Oklahoma City. Their daughters, Deana and Debbie, are school teachers by profession, but they take part in the show cattle circuit and are heavily involved in the Junior Hereford Association at the state and national levels.
Dean and Marlene serve as deacons in their church. Dean was membership director for the Kansas Livestock Association, and has served as the treasurer of the local water board as well as a member of the FSA county committee. He was an extension agriculture agent in Morris, Riley and Shawnee counties for over 20 years, providing research-based information and education to producers.
Kansas State University also called on him to direct the Balanced Farming and Family Living Program, which provided vital guidance for farmers and ranchers during the financially stressed 1980s.
David and Sheila Govert, Cunningham (Kingman County)
On the strength of a strong work ethic and innovative thinking, David and Sheila Govert forged an outstanding family farm operation just southwest of Kingman.
David put in one semester at Pratt Community College before returning to farm with his father, Julius. In 1982, he started his own crops and cattle operation, and steadily expanded the enterprise to several thousand acres of pasture and crop ground.
Originally from Hoisington, Sheila earned her education degree from St. Mary of the Plains College, and taught four years before stepping back to start a family with David. They raised five children: Katie, Anna, Amelia, Joseph and Jack.
Sheila eventually served as a substitute teacher for 15 years, while fully participating in managing Govert Farms.
David’s agricultural prowess led him into several local leadership roles, and he served on the Governor’s Rural Life Task Force. He and Sheila were also active participants in U.S. Premium Beef and the 21st Century Grain Alliance.
Inspired by his own challenges in securing a combine for his wheat harvest, David created a new enterprise in1995 known as MachineryLink: a network matching up farmers to share seasonal farm equipment that they otherwise couldn’t afford to purchase independently. After four years of great success, David sold MachineryLink in 1999 but continued to work for the company until 2007.
In 2011, an enormous hardship befell the Govert family, as David succumbed to cancer. The two oldest children were in their early college years, and the other three were still high school age and younger. Thanks to help from David’s father and from a long-time hired hand, Sheila and the kids kept the operation intact.
The beef operation now features 170 Angus cows. Govert Farms also raises 1000 acres of wheat, grain sorghum, hay, and soybeans and maintains 1300 acres of pasture. Sons Joseph and Jake are active participants in the operation, and the planning for a full transition of ownership is underway.
Before passing, David converted an old barn on the premises into a hunting lodge for out-of-state deer hunters. In 2020, Sheila decided to convert it to a year-round agritourism venture, registering it with Airbnb, hosting a variety of guests as Petyt Creek Ranch Barn.
Garry and Kathy Holloway, Kincaid (Frontier Extension District)
As successful as they’ve been in their 46 years on the farm near Kincaid, Garry and Kathy Holloway have routinely embraced opportunities beyond the farm gate, investing in their local community and beyond in a variety of ways.
Both graduated from Crest High School in Colony. Garry went on to graduate from Northeast Oklahoma A&M, and after working as an agriculture equipment sales representative for a brief time, returned to the family farm in 1979, becoming part of the family farm that Garry’s great-grandfather Henry established in 1895.
Kathy attended Allen County Community College and embarked on a career in the social services field for more than 40 years. Garry and Kathy were married in 1980. They raised two sons on the farm, Benjamin and Westin.
Over the years, the Holloways built the operation up to its current state as Holloway Farms, LLC. On the crops side, corn, soybean, wheat and hay production are the mainstays. Holloway Farms won the Kansas Bankers Association soil conservation award in 1992, and Garry fully adopted conservation tillage cropping practices in 1994.
In partnership with son Westin, the operation now backgrounds from 600 to 1000 stockers annually for placement on Flint Hills grass and then on to feedlots in western Kansas.
Garry was one of the original organizers of the East Kansas Agri-Energy ethanol plant in Garnett. Garry and Kathy have also invested in a soybean processing plant, a beef processing plant and soybean biodiesel plant.
Garry has served on the Anderson County rural water board and as president of the Kincaid Fair Board, among other leadership positions. Kathy is a long-time Sunday school teacher and helps coordinate an after-school program for youngsters called Good News on behalf of the Colony churches. Both have been prominent leaders for the local 4-H club and programs.
The Holloways’ credo is to invest in community, volunteer as needed, and set good examples for others to follow.
Caleb and Shanda Mattix, Colby (Thomas County)
Caleb grew up in southeast Kansas, and as a youth worked on his grandfather’s farm and for other farmers and ranchers. Shanda was raised on the family cattle operation near Colby. They met while attending Kansas State University, both graduating in 2007: Caleb with an animal science degree, Shanda with degrees in social work and equine science.
They married in 2009, and soon thereafter partnered with Shanda’s mother Sue to carry on the Draper Family commercial cattle herd, upon their losing Shanda’s father Bill to cancer in 2004. Shanda represents the 5th generation of the family to raise cattle in northwest Kansas.
Today, they own or lease around 500 acres and run around 70 cow-calf pairs, selling their beef through normal marketing channels, and direct to consumers under the M Arrow Ranch brand.
Shanda is the equine program director at Colby Community College. She teaches the majority of equine courses there, and manages the 45-head herd of college-owned horses. She also serves on the Kansas Horse Council Board of Directors and the national board of the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association.
In addition to his responsibilities on the ranch, Caleb owns a small agriculture construction, welding and contracting business. Both he and Shanda are deeply involved in Farm Bureau activities on the local and state levels. In 2021, they and their young children, Morgan and Rawlins, were recognized as a Kansas Farm Bureau Farm Family of the Year.
Community involvement and support is paramount to the Mattix family. They are involved in numerous community activities, including the Colby Planning and Zoning Committee and the Colby Convention and Visitors Bureau; and in 2019, they founded the Prairie Barn Market, where handmade and vintage product vendors from throughout the Midwest come to Colby to showcase their wares.
Keith and Connie Miller, Great Bend (Cottonwood Extension District)
Perpetuating the family farm homesteaded in 1920 northeast of Great Bend, Keith and Connie Miller have steadily grown their diversified operation over the last 49 years.
Coming out of high school, Keith put in one year at Barton County Community College before returning to the farm for good. Starting in 1976, he and Connie partnered with Keith’s parents, Carl and Evelyn, raising beef cows, hogs and 500 acres of crops on the farmstead just south of the Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Refuge.
Keith and Connie fully took over the operation in 1990, which has now expanded to several thousand acres of wheat, corn, alfalfa, soybeans and grain sorghum. They also run a 200-head beef cattle herd. Their three daughters, Amber, Brooke and Dara, were all active on the farm growing up.
Currently, Dara and her husband Jason are directly involved in the operation, as is a nephew, Brad Birzer. As the business manager for the operation, Connie is in the process of handing those duties fully over to Dara.
Keith and Connie have been fully committed to leadership and service at the local, state and even national levels. Keith is a past chair of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, and a past chair of the American Farm Bureau Federation’s international trade committee. He has also served on the Kansas Farm Bureau’s Board of Directors for 17 years, and is the current chair of the Kanas Soybean Commission.
Connie was a long-time 4-H community leader and church youth leader, among other local leadership positions. Keith and Connie fully credit their family support system for their extensive accomplishments.
Roger and Elizabeth Ploeger, Morrill (Brown County)
Roger and Elizabeth Ploeger have achieved plenty in their half-century in production agriculture.
Roger is a fourth-generation farmer, and he and Elizabeth operate Sunshine Farms. The family farm began with his great-grandfather in the 1880s, and was given its name by Roger’s parents, Warren and Rosalie, in 1940.
The operation resides near Morrill in Brown County. Roger bought his first acreage entering his senior year in high school. He went on to Kansas State University and earned his animal science degree there in 1976.
That’s where he met Elizabeth, who also earned a degree in animal science in 1977. After they married, they joined his parents as farming partners. Upon his father’s passing in 1995, Roger and Elizabeth became the sole operators of Sunshine Farms, along with their three sons, Jesse, Wade and Miles.
After a year at technical school, Jesse returned to farm full-time with Roger and Elizabeth. Today, Sunshine Farms is prolific in beef cattle and sheep production, with a heavy accent on superior genetics. They also produce several hundred acres of corn, soybeans and alfalfa in addition to their sheep and cattle pastures.
The Ploegers are committed to sustainable farming based on good conservation practices. They cooperate with local crop seed distributors in establishing test plots for crop genetic evaluation.
Roger has served as an officer of two rural water districts in the Morrill area, and both he and Elizabeth are deeply involved in the activities of the Kansas Sheep Association and the Kansas Sheep Council. Elizabeth has served on the Brown County Extension Board. Roger and his sons are active in the Northeast Kansas Tractor Club, where they engage their affinity for antique tractors and farm implements.
