KRC Receives Two New Regional Food System Grants

Whiting, Ks. -The Kansas Rural Center is pleased to announce that it was recently awarded two grants focused on regional food system development and producer education and outreach.

A $171,520 USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant (SCBG), through a sub-grant from the Kansas Department of Agriculture, will permit KRC to expand the Our Local Food (OLF) program in Kansas. This program seeks to spur the development of community-based food systems by creating regional networks of local farms, farmers markets, food businesses, agricultural professionals, supportive organizations, as well as consumers who are committed to increasing the production and sales of fresh, local foods in Kansas.

The SCBG will assist in further developing OLF program resources such as subsidized membership fees, educational opportunities and consultation services for producers and food businesses, an interactive website and online food hub development, as well as member tool kits. Two chapters–a South East and a State chapter–will be added to the existing three, enabling the program to cover the entire state.

Additionally, this grant will permit KRC to bring back Savor the Season, a program started in 2009 to increase the diversity and boost sales of specialty crops at farmers markets. In 2012, ten new crops will be added to the sixteen highlighted in previous years. To increase the diversity of crops grown in the state, K-State Research and Extension Horticulture Agents will partner with experienced growers and OLF program staff to develop crop guides focusing on production, post-harvest, and marketing best practices for at least five featured crops.

Producer education on selected crops will also be offered in multiple formats including webinars, workshops and field days. Additional partners, including the KSU Research And Extension (KSRE) Nutrition, Food Safety and Healthy Program Leadership Team and KSRE Family and Consumer Science Agents, will focus on educating consumers about specific specialty crops and how to select, store, and prepare them. OLF member farmers markets will be eligible to apply for mini-grant and cost-shares to promote Savor the Season crops at their markets.

A second grant, the $99,673 USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) award, will support numerous collaborations between KRC and other partners to increase opportunities around local food production. Using conferences, electronic communications tools, workshops and other venues, the project will enhance producers ability to locate risk management information and training, and to strengthen risk management education and training to a broadened agricultural audience.

RMA grant-supported programming includes the 2011 KRC sustainable agriculture conference, a full-day food safety workshop at the 2012 Great Plain Growers Conference, the Kansas Grazers Association’s winter conference, and a two-day grazing school to be held in fall 2012.

KRC will also partner with the Kansas Farmers Union (KFU), Kansas Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Alternative Crops (KCSAAC), and KSRE Douglas County to develop a Strategic Marketing for Livestock Producers educational series in winter of 2012. Composed of an introductory webinar and four workshops, the program will focus on the basics of marketing, including identifying a target market, selecting appropriate outlets, developing a marketing plan, and creating effective materials.

RMA funding will also allow the Our Local Food program to expand its resources for meat and animal product producers, and are not covered by the Specialty Crop grants.

The Kansas Small Farm and Direct Marketing Guide, a collaboration of KDA’s Food Safety Division, KCSAAC, the KFU, and KRC, is also funded through the RMA grant. This guide will provide base-line information that all direct marketing farms and beginning farmers need to be aware of to increase the likelihood of success and remain within regulatory compliance. Topics to be covered include licensing, taxes, insurance, and labor topics as well as rules and regulations for processing and direct marketing diverse agricultural products.

On the national level, direct-to-consumer sales, through outlets such as farmers markets, farm stands and U-pick operations, totaled $1.2 billion in 2007. This represents an annual growth rate of about 10% between 2002 and 2007– twice that of the rest of the food economy.
Activity in Kansas not only mirrors that national trend, but demonstrates even more potential. The number of farmers markets across the state has doubled over the past decade. Furthermore, between 2002 to 2007, Kansas rose from 45 to 33 in state ranking based on vegetable acres per 100 people. These statistics point to a burgeoning demand for local food that the USDA estimates will reach $7 billion by 2012.

“This rapid increase, not only in sales but also in the number of small farms entering the direct marketing arena, demonstrates that the need for resources, training and networking is great. With the award of these two grants, the Kansas Rural Center and its partners are in a position to address several of the opportunities and challenges of rebuilding regional food systems,” said Mercedes Taylor-Puckett, KRC’s Local Food and Farmers Market Project Coordinator.

You can contact Mercedes at mercedes.taylorpuckett@gmail.com.

Kansas Graziers’ Winter Conference Scheduled for January 15 in Junction City

Whiting, Ks. - The Kansas Grazier's Association (KGA) will hold its Winter Conference on Saturday January 15, 2011 at the Geary County 4H-Senior Citizen's Center at 1025 South Spring Valley Road in Junction City, Ks. from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The primary topic of the day will be Mob Grazing, and the keynote speaker will be Greg Judy of Clark, Missouri. Greg and Jan Judy run a grazing operation on 1400 acres of leased land using Holistic High Density Planned Grazing to graze cows, cow/calf pairs, bred heifers, horses, and stockers.

The Judys have developed a successful system to get into the grazing business by leasing land, employing high density grazing, and grazing other people's livestock. In 2001, Judy wrote a book titled, No Risk Ranching: Custom Grazing on Leased Land, which gives a complete breakdown of the methods they used to build their own operation from scratch. In 2008, he wrote a second book, Comeback Farms: Rejuvenating Soils, Pastures, and Profits with Livestock Grazing Management. In addition to “Introduction to Mob Grazing", Judy will discuss animal performance and multi-species grazing with cattle and sheep.

The morning sessions will cover the important steps of implementing Holistic High Density Mob Grazing on your farm. It is crucial to understand the important steps when you start off with mob grazing. Subjects to be covered will include:

• How to double your stocking rate in four years.
• How to graze profitably with no inputs.
• How to using the mob to heal your soils.How to build a good litter bank.
• How to get a full recovery period on your grass before grazing.
• How to feed microbes and earthworms to their maximum potential.
• Fencing and watering techniques for mob grazing.
• Eliminating hay from your operation
• Plus many more mob grazing topics.

After lunch, Judy will will cover what he believes is the most important element of grazing,  animal performance. Animal performance is the number one priority when starting any grazing system and this is the area where most people fail by focusing on the land and forgetting about the animals. According to Judy, this is a recipe for failure; the animals do not perform because we are accidently limiting daily intake. We must save ourselves before we can save the world. We need to stay 100 percent focused on getting as much energy into the livestock every day as possible.

This talk will explain how to do that. Greg will also cover what to look for daily in your animals and the land to ensure that your animals are performing to their peak potential. Our animals can heal our land, but we must stay alert to our animals needs in the process of building our soils.

Following the afternoon break, Judy will cover multiple species grazing with sheep and cattle. Multi-species grazing is a great way to capture more energy and profit from any grazing operation.

Judy says, "We are in the business of harvesting sun light, the more diiverse species of animals that you have grazing on your farm, the more efficient machine you have to capture the sun’s energy."

Nature is about diversity, notmonocultures. Single species of any livestock is not as efficient at capturing energy. Every species that you can have on your farm helps support eightadditional ones. Your operation is much more sustainable. They actually eat different types of forages and make the grazing better for the other species. They also give you an additional income source for your farm.

Registration begins at 8:30 a.m.; and costs $35 for the day and includes lunch. The conference flier, a mail-in registration form can be downloaded and printed from the Kansas Rural Center website at www.kansasruralcenter.org

Driving directions: From I-70 Exit 295 Turn north onto Highway 77, and go to Sapp Brothers Truck Stop Highway entrance; Turn west onto Lacy Drive. Follow Lacy Drive around to stop sign at Spring Valley Road 1/2 mile. Turn north onto Spring Valley Road and proceed to the Geay County 4-H/Senior Center, 1025 South Spring Valley Road, about .7mile. From the north, go to the Sapp Brothers Entrance and follow the above directions.

For more information contact:
Mary Howell at 785-292-4955, or (cell)785-562-8726;
or the KRC office at785-873-3431 can help with registration questions.

Sponsors include the Kansas Rural Center, Kansas Farmers Union, Kansas Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Alternative Crops, and Kansas Grazing Lands Coalition.