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Kansas Department of Agriculture – Grain growers in eastern Kansas who plan to campaign for a seat on one of the state’s five grain commodity commissions — corn, grain sorghum, soybeans, sunflowers or wheat — should be gathering petition signatures now to meet the Nov. 30, 2021, filing deadline.

The 2022 election will cover districts VII, VIII and IX, or the eastern third of Kansas.

District VII includes Atchison, Brown, Doniphan, Jackson, Jefferson, Leavenworth, Marshall, Nemaha, Pottawatomie, Riley and Wyandotte counties.

District VIII includes Anderson, Chase, Coffey, Douglas, Franklin, Geary, Johnson, Linn, Lyon, Miami, Morris, Osage, Shawnee and Wabaunsee counties.

District IX includes Allen, Bourbon, Butler, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Cowley, Crawford, Elk, Greenwood, Labette, Montgomery, Neosho, Wilson and Woodson counties.

To be eligible to run for any of the five commodity commissions, the candidate must have been actively engaged in growing corn, grain sorghum, soybeans, sunflowers or wheat within the preceding five years and may only represent the district of their primary residence. Candidates must gather 20 signatures from eligible growers to be included on the 2022 ballot. No more than five signatures from any one county can be used to qualify a candidate. Eligible growers are Kansas residents who will reach age 18 before the election and who have grown corn, grain sorghum, soybeans, sunflowers or wheat for the last three years.

New this past year, candidates will have the option to create petitions and collect signatures online. The portal is available at: www.agriculture.ks.gov/kgcvoter. Once the candidate has created an account and petition, the candidate will then have a unique URL to share with signors who can then enter their contact information and sign the petition. Candidates may choose to complete their petition online, by paper, or a combination of both.

Paper candidate registration packets and more information about the commissions are available from the Kansas Department of Agriculture or the grain commodity commissions.

• Kansas Department of Agriculture: 785-564-6726 or www.agriculture.ks.gov/kgcvoter
• Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission: 785-477-9474 or ksgrainsorghum.org/commission