Joshua Svaty has more than 20 years of experience in agriculture, water, energy, business development, and policy. He was elected four times to the Kansas Legislature from his home district in central Kansas, serving as a ranking member on the House Agriculture and Water Committee in addition to serving on the House Energy and Utilities Committee and the Administrative Rules and Regulations Committee.

In 2009, Governor Mark Parkinson named Josh the 14th Kansas Secretary of Agriculture, overseeing the fifth largest agriculture economy in the United States. Following his tenure, Josh became a Senior Adviser in the United States Environmental Protection Agency out of the Region 7 Office. Josh was asked to serve as the Vice President at The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas, during which time the agriculture non-profit’s fundraising more than doubled, furthering their work of perennializing the major grain crops around the world.

Josh has testified before Congress and spoken nationally and internationally on issues related to agriculture, natural resources, and energy. He is the co-author of the 2020 Kansas Notable Book Petroglyphs of the Kansas Smoky Hills and is a contributing essayist on another book on Kansas set for publication in 2025. His family has farmed in Kansas since 1864, and he and his wife Kimberly, along with their four children, own and operate Free State Farms in Ellsworth County.