{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://fortenberry.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/columbus-telegram-erstwhile-farm-sweet-corn-fit-king", "The Columbus Telegram: Erstwhile Farm Sweet Corn Fit for King", "2017-12-06", "2017", "2017-12", "Republican", "House", "NE", "Jeff Fortenberry", "F000449", "fortenberry.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "COLUMBUS \u2014 Produce grown at Erstwhile Farm has fed many people.\nThe organic vegetables, pasture-raised pork, chicken and eggs that Lanette and Larry Stec have on their rural Columbus farm are sold year-round to hungry customers. Some of the products have been featured in stores and on menus in Omaha, Lincoln, Columbus and out of state.\nRecently, even royalty got a taste of the sweet corn produced by the couple.\nKing Abdullah II of Jordan was served Erstwhile Farm sweet corn during a visit to the United States last month. The sampling was coordinated by the Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Society and U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry\u2019s office when the congressman met with Jordanian Ambassador to the United States Dina Kawar, who traveled to Nebraska in November.\nThe king was in Washington, D.C., and expressed an interested in corn with a meal, so arrangements were made to have him try some Nebraska-grown corn while he was in the United States.\nErstwhile Farm was contacted because the operation is a member of the society and has a commercial kitchen used to prepare and store sweet corn throughout the year.\nA couple hundred pounds of sweet corn are frozen each year to sell and for the family\u2019s own consumption. Lanette Stec said six 1-pound bags of the product were purchased to serve with the king's meal.\nHaving sweet corn produced on her land fed to a dignitary was special.\n\u201cIt was a great honor. We are just a little farm here doing our own little thing,\u201d Stec said.\nShe also appreciated the visit from Fortenberry, who toured the farm and spoke to the Stecs for about an hour days before his meeting with the king.\nStec said he showed particular interest in the farm\u2019s mobile coop for chickens, the commercial kitchen and solar panels used to power a kitchen, garden irrigation system and well on their 200 acres of crop ground, which have been in Larry\u2019s family for more than a century.\nStec said Fortenberry\u2019s visit opened her eyes. She said she isn\u2019t a political person, but thinks he wanted to visit a small farm like theirs because of the innovations they use.\nThey follow organic practices and produce pork, eggs and vegetables without chemicals, hormones or antibiotics.\n\u201cWe try to honor the Earth and the animals and do things we feel is best,\u201d she said.\nClick here to read the entire article.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://fortenberry.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/columbus-telegram-erstwhile-farm-sweet-corn-fit-king"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4035080093890429, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}