Jan Lyons

Floor Speech

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Mr. MANN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Jan Lyons, a great Kansan and this year's winner of the 2022 Jay B. Dillingham Award for Agricultural Leadership and Excellence.

Jan is certainly a deserving recipient of such an honor. As a young person, she got started raising her own angus cattle with a few of her dad's cows. In the 1970s, Jan and her husband Frank Lyons started the Lyons Ranch Angus cowherd south of Manhattan, Kansas, with some of the females originating from her father's herd. Today, Lyons Ranch consists of Jan and Frank and with their daughter Amy and her husband Karl, along with their sons with their wives. Jan's daughter Debbie also manages a cattle operation with her husband. Jan is the matriarch of a true family operation, which is why I'm delighted to honor her here today.

Jan was the first woman president of the Kansas Angus Association. She was also the president of the Kansas Livestock Association and the president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. With all this on her plate, Jan has still found time to serve as a 4-H leader in Riley County where she teaches young people about the importance of agriculture.

Jan has received a great deal of praise for being a trailblazing woman in agriculture. In response to this praise, Jan once said, ``Women have always been in agriculture--they just haven't always been the spokespeople. I would like to think that I am just a good rancher and good leader--not a good woman rancher.'' Well Jan, you are a great rancher and an outstanding leader.

I congratulate Jan on her well-deserved award, and thank her for all her hard work on behalf of Kansas agriculture.

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