Nominating Committee - Great Plains

2026-2027 Nominating Committee Candidates

Candidate information includes a brief description of their farming operation, role in that operation, and/or business experience.

GREAT PLAINS

Anthony Demma – Mokena, IL

I have a wide range of agriculture related experience. I manage a custom farmer of over 3000ac in SE Colorado, while cash renting 160ac in N. Illinois. I run a used vegetable oil recycling company and an apiary in Northern Illinois as well. I am an independent commodities trader with over 20 years’ experience with a focus on “The Crush” trade of Soybeans and I am hedging Soyoil tied to the used cooking oil recycling business. I have been on a variety of local boards from nonprofits to a credit union. I’m currently working on developing a compost operation with local landscapers. All of this is to say that I am quite familiar with the agriculture economy and business writ large.

Stacey Foos – Dighton, KS

Our farm is located in Lane County, Kansas where we produce dryland wheat, sorghum and corn and also have a cow/calf operation.

Todd Lewis – Fowler, KS

As a 4th generation farmer/rancher, I operate with my wife and oldest daughter primarily on family-owned ground. Our main passion is our cow/calf herd. Grass is utilized in the summer, and we winter our cows on irrigated corn and Milo stalks, supplementing them with alfalfa, oats and Sudan grass that we raise. Over the years we have developed additional income through a hunting/agri-tourism operation that now extends to the 3rd generation. My family has always believed that some diversification is essential. With this in mind, about 20 years ago, my wife Brenda and I obtained our real estate licenses in Kansas specializing in ag properties which have evolved as I am now a broker in Kansas and Oklahoma.

I have actively been engaged in farming/ranching since 1989, taking over the management roles in 2000 which I now share with my wife and daughter Elizabeth and running the hunting side of the business since its inception in 1998, learning early on the politics and economics of agri-tourism which includes clients from many different geographic locations and walks of life. Being a real estate broker has allowed the opportunity to meet and visit with farm families across Kansas and Oklahoma. Dealing with a variety of clients, whether it be someone retiring or a family member who inherited a piece of property, and understanding the landowner’s point of view has offered an insight second to none. Dealing with potential buyers, whether the neighbor down the road or the investor from several states away, has proved enlightening, and in a lot of ways highlights the road map to the future of agriculture and rural property ownership, emphasizing the need to keep quality leadership starting at the local level.

Gwen Wells – Marienthal, KS

I am a fifth-generation Wichita County farmer/rancher. My husband and I farm and ranch in a handful of counties in Western Kansas. We are primarily dryland farmers who grow conventional and organic wheat, corn and milo. We also have a commercial Red Angus cow/calf herd as well as a small feedlot/grow yard.

I am involved in the day-to-day operations as well as on the business side. I manage the books for our entities and assist where needed as the seasons come and go.