After 36 years with Kansas and Oklahoma Farm Bureaus, Sam Knipp retired September 29, 2015. “After a few days, I hungered for continuing advocating for agriculture. American Farmers & Ranchers (AFR) offered me the opportunity to feed that urge. AFR has a 110-year history in Oklahoma as a general farm organization and insurance company servicing rural Oklahoma. Today, AFR has over 100,000 family members and is licensed to provide insurance in 24 states.” As director of communications and public relations for AFR, Sam is excited to have the chance to continue telling the farm story using a variety of tools, including radio programs. “I have already started producing podcasts and in early February will roll out a new radio program service called Accent on Agriculture. His ag avocation work started after graduating from Kansas State University with a BS degree in agricultural journalism. “I worked at radio stations in Kansas and Missouri, including KFEQ (St. Joseph, MO) and WIBW (Topeka, KS).”
The next phase of his career included Farm Bureau and earning a master’s degree in agricultural communications from Oklahoma State University. He also helped teach a class at OSU in animal agriculture advocacy and policy, plus helping numerous agriculture leaders and public officials understand media relations. “It adds up to a body of work that is not yet finished. Can we ever say ag advocacy is finished? Probably not. The world needs to be fed while at the same time understand where their food and fiber comes from.” In summary, he said, “I retired from Farm Bureau, but then went back to work advocating for agriculture at American Farmers & Ranchers.” He is proud of his humble beginnings on a western Kansas farm and ranch where he learned the true meaning of hard work.
