Our Directors
Jim Cossaart
Jim Cossaart was a windmill repairman, a blacksmith's apprentice, a tractor salesman, a rancher, and a farmer, who eventually became a dentist. Jim's prairie home has been in his family for six generations. Surviving dust storms, tornadoes, the farm crisis of the 1980s, and near bankruptcy, his farm still stands as a symbol of the tenacity of the tallgrass prairie itself.
Kieran Mulvaney
Kieran Mulvaney is a journalist who has written for National Geographic, The Guardian, The Washington Post Magazine, BBC Wildlife, New Scientist, E Magazine, and other publications, and has authored four books: "At the Ends of the Earth: A History of the Polar Regions," "The Whaling Season: An Inside Account of the Struggle to Stop Commercial Whaling," "The Great White Bear: A Natural and Unnatural History of the Polar Bear," and "Arctic Passages: Ice, Exploration, and the Battle for Power at the Top of the World." Born in England, he spent several years living in a cabin in Alaska and now lives in rural Vermont.
Nick Levendofsky
Nick Levendofsky currently serves as the executive director for Kansas Farmers Union, a position he has held since 2022. He has served in multiple roles with Kansas Farmers Union, Wisconsin Farmers Union, and Rocky Mountain Farmers Union since 2011. He grew up on a family farm in north central Kansas where his family raises wheat, corn, grain sorghum, soybeans, alfalfa, as well as beef cattle. Nick serves on the board of the Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy (IATP), as well as on his county hospital foundation board, county historical society board, and is a member of the Scandia, KS Lions Club.
Our Graziers
Ryan Fiser is a young farmer/stockman that rents the Cossaart land. He has purchased a portion of the land for his cattle to graze and works closely with Jim. Ryan graduated from Kansas State University in 2015 with a B.S. in Agronomy and operates Fiser Ranch with his parents. Ryan and Abbigail have three young children and live in the Narka, Kansas area.
Ryan and his father Marty