Eight months after he was elected president of the National Association of Wheat Growers, David Schemm resigned to pursue, in NAWG’s words, “other professional opportunities in his home state of Kansas.” The High Plains Journal said Schemm “has reportedly been tapped to accept the position of Kansas Farm Service Agency executive director,” but there was no official word.
NAWG’s past president, Gordon Stoner, will take over the president’s duties until the organization elects officers at its annual meeting, which is in conjunction with the Commodity Classic, Feb. 27-March 1, in Anaheim, Calif.
Schemm, who was raised on the Sharon Springs, Kan., farm he now operates, became a NAWG official in 2014 when he was elected secretary, followed by terms as treasurer and vice president. He was elected NAWG president March 2. “While David will be missed, I know he will continue to do important things for the state of Kansas,” said NAWG chief executive Chandler Goule.
The High Plains Journal, based in Dodge City, Kan., said an appointment of Schemm as FSA executive director would come from Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. USDA “is slowly working through appointments of several state executive directors,” it said. The officials “are political appointees who participate in developing policies, as well as in planning, organizing, administering and directing FSA programs and management activities for their respective states.”