Nominated Farmer

Mark Schwarm

County

Reno

Nominated By

Kellen Liebsch

Submission

My father is the most hard-working person I have ever met. Don’t get me wrong — every farm and ranch family is dedicated to their living and profession, but I believe that what my father espouses is so much more than just commitment to the industry.

Native American author N. Scott Momaday once wrote, “Once in a life a man ought to concentrate his mind upon the remembered earth. He ought to give himself up to a particular landscape in his experience, to look at it from as many angles as he can, to wonder upon it, to dwell upon it. He ought to imagine the creatures there and all the faintest motions of the wind.” When I first heard this quote, even though Momaday published it long before I was ever born, I thought he was directly speaking to me about my father. We operate a 2,000-acre custom-cattle operation in Kiowa County and my father is not just a rancher — he is the living embodiment of that quote. He is always looking for ways to improve conservation, to work within the parameters of the land, and to pass his love of the landscape onto future generations. My father was once asked where his favorite place in the world was and his answer was simple. He replied, “On the back of a horse in our pasture.”

While most people are preoccupied with trivial matters, the most important thing to my father is our family legacy. Our last name might not be famous and we might not have the largest ranch in Kansas, but he will do everything in his power to ensure that our ranch is sustainable, not only for the short-term, but for centuries to come. 

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