Muhlenkamp earns national FSA honor

Rural Portland resident Kendra Muhlenkamp was named a Farm Service Agency Newcomer Employee of the Year for 2023.

Muhlenkamp joined the FSA office in Winchester in 2021 as the program technician responsible for helping Randolph County farmers navigate ARC & PLC (agriculture risk coverage and price loss coverage), the U.S. Department of Agriculture income support programs for when crops fail or prices drop.

“She caught on so quickly,” said Nancy Best, former FSA executive director for Randolph County (now with the Wayne County agency), who nominated Muhlenkamp for the award recognizing employees with no more than five years with the agency, which has branches all over the country. 

Muhlenkamp was one of 18 newcomers honored among the agency’s 11,000-plus employees nationwide.

“It’s the highest award we can give,” said Best.

In her nomination, Best described Muhlenkamp’s first days on the job during the last two weeks for farmers to sign up for the income support programs.

“She jumped right into (the) mix of thing and was answering the phone and scheduling appointments,” Best wrote. “Kendra is a farmer herself and I believe this has helped her with learning our programs and policies.” 

Muhlenkamp, the daughter of Tom and Kim Homan of rural Portland, grew up on a farm not far from where she lives now with her husband, Lance, their four children and their starter turkey barns.

You don’t have to have an agriculture background to do the job, she said, “it just helps you to understand things.”

For example, when producers sign up for income support, they must choose between ARC or PLC for their various crops. Muhlenkamp understands what they are going through.

“You don’t really know what the future holds, so it’s kind of hard to figure out what you’re wanting to do,” she said.

In 2023, Best said Muhlenkamp took the lead in getting eligible folks signed up with the programs well before the March 15 deadline, making lots of phone calls. The result was dramatic. Nearly 95% had signed up by March 1. 

“Her efforts increase participation in our programs by raising awareness of the deadlines,” Best wrote in the nomination.

In addition to ARC & PLC, Muhlenkamp helps with making sure that boundary lines are properly set — and, when necessary, redraws lines — when farms are sold or change hands through inheritance. In 2020, Randolph County had only 65 farms “reconstituted” this way, Best said. In 2022, that number had grown to 309. By the time Best wrote the nomination in the spring of 2023, Muhlenkamp had already handled 264 reconstitutions.

Though Muhlenkamp admits she’s not crazy about the paperwork involved in her job, she loves working with producers and helping to solve their problems. She’s so good at it that Best said agency employees in nearby counties contact her “when they are having problems.” 

Muhlenkamp’s face lights up when she describes phone calls from folks who aren’t sure if they have even called the right office. 

“I don’t know if this is the right place,” they tell her, “but this is what I need.”

She looks ready for the challenge.