The Kansas Department of Agriculture traces its roots back to 1857, when a group of Kansas farmers called an open air meeting in Topeka to form the Kansas Agriculture Society. The group worked to promote agriculture even before Kansas achieved statehood. In 1872, the Kansas Legislature created the State Board of Agriculture from the structure of the Agriculture Society. It became the grandfather of agricultural departments in all 50 states. The board's early years were spent organizing a state fair and acting as an immigration agency to attract needed settlers to homestead in Kansas. The Board of Agriculture through an annual report and various publications about Kansas served as a source of information and new techniques in farming. Through grasshopper plagues and droughts and blizzards, and through the invention of barbed wire, the development of combines and advances undreamed in 1872, the Kansas Department of Agriculture has served the producers and consumers of Kansas agricultural products. The Kansas State Board of Agriculture was renamed the Kansas Department of Agriculture in 1995 after the Legislature revised its structure. The Kansas Department of Agriculture is a regulatory agency that serves all Kansans. It is charged by law to ensure a safe food supply; responsible and judicious use of pesticides and nutrients; the protection of Kansas' natural and cultivated plants; integrity of weighing and measuring devices in commerce; and that the state's waters are put to beneficial use. The department administers the following programs: Food Safety and Consumer Protection Programs which focus on protecting the health and well-being of all consumers; Environmental Protection Programs which focus on protecting the health of the state's natural and cultivated plant resources and the environment; Water Resource Programs which provide a public safety function through inspection of water structures along with management of the quantity of the state's scarce water resources; and Administrative Services and Support which provides the general policy, outreach, coordination and management functions for the department. [Kansas Department of Agriculture, "About Us," http://www.ksda.gov/about/ (accessed October 2, 2008.)] [Kansas State Historical Society, "Kansas Department of Agriculture," http://www.kshs.org/portraits/kansas_department_of_agriculture.htm (accessed October 2, 2008.)]
From the description of Records of the State Board of Agriculture and the State Department of Agriculture, 1860- [ongoing] (Kansas State Historical Society). WorldCat record id: 692363157
