Towns and other Kansas economic leaders attended the recent World Ag Expo in Tulare, Calif.

"We go out there every year," she said. "It's a big farm show in Tulare. They have a big dairy facility that they have all kinds of things about dairy in. It's an international show, so we get to talk to folks all over the United States as well as different countries about dairies in western Kansas. We go with our wKREDA group, Western Kansas Rural Economic Development Alliance."

Towns said the Kansas group visits California in order to educate business leaders about western Kansas and the benefits of bringing a dairy to the state.

"There's a lot of young people that are looking to start their own dairies," she said. "They've been in family farms all their life. They're looking to step out on their own."

Towns said a lot of people in California are looking to relocate in other states.

"We let them know all the things we have going for us in western Kansas and why we're a good location for a dairy," she said. "The things that we tell them about ourselves is that we have adequate water from the Ogallala Aquifer that's available in western Kansas. We also have wide open spaces. Low population density. Plenty of land."

Towns said another benefit of bringing dairies to western Kansas is that the land prices are quite reasonable.

"Some of the land in California might go for $20,000 or $30,000 an acre," she said. "Our $1,500 an acre sounds really attractive to them."

Source: Southwest Daily Times