USW Vice Chairman Millershaski Strengthens Industry Ties During Bayer Leadership Program

U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) Vice Chairman Gary Millershaski recently joined a cohort of emerging wheat industry leaders in Austin, Texas, for the first leg of the Bayer Leadership Program. For Millershaski – as a multi-generation wheat farmer from Lakin, Kansas – the program offered more than personal professional development; it served as an important opportunity to foster stronger collaboration between upcoming leaders of the wheat industry’s partner organizations.

USW Vice Chairman Gary Millershaski

“I wanted to participate in the Bayer Leadership Program to familiarize myself with current and future state wheat leaders,” Millershaski said. “I’m really impressed with this group of individuals. Just putting everybody in the same room, doing the same work – the way everybody works together is priceless.”

The Bayer Leadership Program is organized by Bayer CropScience and the National Wheat Foundation. The annual program provides advanced leadership training for state wheat grower leaders who want to be more involved in their grower associations or are set to join the board of directors for the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) or the National Wheat Foundation. The program focuses on the responsibilities of board members, including governance, media relations and advocacy.

The program is organized into three parts, including sessions held concurrently with the joint board meetings of USW and NAWG in the fall and winter. Each leg includes sessions on leadership styles and communication, major policy and economic issues facing the agricultural industry and how to effectively engage target audiences through new and traditional media outlets.

For Millershaski, this training was a welcome refresher from more than 20 years ago, when he participated in the Wheat Industry Leaders of Tomorrow (WILOT) program – a predecessor to the Bayer Leadership Program. He noted the wide array of topics at the November session, ranging from mock advocacy group activities to etiquette training – reminders of all the different hats a farmer leader must wear.

Kansas Roots to Global Reach

Like the other members of his cohort from across U.S. wheat country, Millershaski’s leadership perspective is grounded in his family’s farming operation in southwest Kansas. Along with his wife, Jana, and their sons, Jeremy and Kyler, he grows U.S. hard red winter (HRW) and U.S. hard white (HW) wheat, as well as dryland corn and milo. The family also manages a cow-calf operation.

Millershaski has served the wheat industry in various roles since 2007, including as a director of the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers (KAWG), chairman of the Kansas Wheat Commission and as a member of Class VII of the Kansas Agricultural & Rural Leadership (KARL) program. He was elected as the secretary-treasurer of the USW Board of Directors in January 2024 and started his term as vice chairman in July 2025.

He has put the lessons learned on the farm and in the boardroom to work as a USW officer representing U.S. wheat farmers in international markets. Missions this fall to Mexico, South Korea, Singapore and Indonesia provided Millershaski with the opportunity to communicate the challenges and opportunities associated with the current low farmgate prices of U.S. wheat.

“The prices of wheat are too cheap for us as farmers right now, but it does give other countries an unbelievable opportunity to import U.S. wheat,” Millershaski said.

He added that beyond price, the reputation of USW’s work overseas and the quality of U.S. wheat remain top-notch in every conversation with millers, bakers and grain buyers.

“It’s amazing; everywhere I’ve been, everybody is so impressed with the quality coming from the United States and, more so, the support that USW gives all of them,” Millershaski said. “Getting to observe our USW staff in their element overseas has been awesome.”

Millershaski will take that global perspective back to share with his cohort during the Bayer Leadership Program’s next session scheduled for January 2026 in Washington, DC.