Papers of Lloyd Kontny

Collection

Identifier: APLK

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection contains personal, county board, and government documents regarding private business and USDA Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS) surplus grain initiatives as they related to Kontny's Kansas farmland. Personal calculations of the grain farming business, tax statements, and ASCS certification paperwork illuminate business practices in the 1960s to include acreages, prices, and other considerations for the federal regulation of grain production. News clippings and photographs from the pages of a family scrapbook offer information about Kontny's service with state, regional, and national grain associations and his travels as a representative of Great Plains Wheat, Inc.

Dates

Creation: 1956-1971

Creator

Kontny, Lloyd (Organization)

Restrictions on Access

There are no access restrictions on this collection; however, it is stored off-site, so advance notice is required.

Restrictions on Use

Not all of the material in the collection is in the public domain. Researchers are responsible for addressing copyright issues.

History

Lloyd Kontny, dryland farmer and agricultural businessman in Colorado and Kansas, spearheaded initiatives to streamline grain transportation and regulatory controls, improve grain strains, and promote new studies of farming techniques that expanded American wheat sales to the world marketplace.

Kontny was born at Tecumseh, Nebraska, on August 20, 1918. He attended public schools in Chappell and the College of Agriculture at Nebraska University, and married Edna M. Empson in 1945. Joined eventually by daughters Judy and Barbara and son Craig, they resided in the vicinity of Julesburg, Colorado, for more than two decades. Kontny later operated farms near Goodland, Kansas.

In 1958, Kontny helped create the Colorado Wheat Administrative Committee to address wheat storage surplus issues and study ways to better understand grain farming in the Plains region. As chairman of the Colorado unit, Kontny assisted in founding the Great Plains Market Development Association. With the cooperation of wheat farmers in Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and the Dakotas, Kontny and other leaders developed overseas wheat markets in Japan.

Lloyd Kontny worked with grain elevator, rail, shipping, and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials to tighten grain standards and lower freight rates from farmlands to seaports, thus improving American potential for foreign sales. He sought research assistance from Colorado State University to improve quality by developing high-protein grain that is resistant to disease, insects, and drought. In 1961, Kontny was appointed by Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman to serve on the USDA Advisory Committee on Feed Grains and Wheat.

During the mid-1960s, Kontny returned to life as a businessman-farmer on farms in both Colorado and Kansas. At the age of 52, he died during surgery in Denver on November 4, 1970. His legacy to Colorado grain producers lives on in the work of the Colorado Wheat Administrative Committee, which continues to assist growers in increasing wheat sales to both domestic and export markets.

Extent

1.75 linear feet (1 record carton, 1 document case, 1 oversize folder)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Lloyd Kontny, dryland farmer and agricultural businessman in Colorado and Kansas, helped create the Colorado Wheat Administrative Committee. He spearheaded initiatives to streamline grain transportation and regulatory controls, improve grain strains, promote new studies of farming techniques, and expand American wheat sales to the world marketplace. This collection contains personal, county board, and federal government documents regarding private business and USDA Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS) surplus grain initiatives as they related to Kontny's Kansas farmland.

Arrangement

The collection consists of two series in one record carton, one document case, and one oversize folder:

Series 1: Farm-related documents, 1956-1971 and undated

Series 2: Scrapbook materials, 1957-1962 and undated

Acquisition

Rick Brase, son-in-law of Lloyd Kontny, facilitated the donation of the Papers of Lloyd Kontny. The materials were donated to the CSU Libraries by Edna (Kontny) Warnock in June 2010 and February 2011.

Online Materials

Some materials have been scanned and are available through the Colorado State University Libraries website. In the electronic version of this document, direct links appear in context.

Related Collections

The Agricultural and Natural Resources Archive also holds the Records of the Colorado Grain and Feed Association.

Processing

Processing was completed in December 2011. The collection was previously stored in a leather satchel, a loose-leaf binder, and a scrapbook. Documents were removed from envelopes, unfolded, and placed in acid-free folders according to topic in an archival box. Loose photographs, correspondence, and clippings from the scrapbook were placed in protective enclosures and folders. Original groupings of documents within loose-leaf binder sections were maintained as materials were transferred to folders, but the folders were re-arranged alphabetically by folder title.