The Kansas Department of Agriculture was awarded $780,776 through the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program in 2022.
The Kansas Department of Agriculture was awarded $780,776 through the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program in 2022. Funds for the program were presented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Marketing Service. The purpose of the SCBG Program is to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops. According to the USDA, specialty crops are defined as “fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture and nursery crops, including floriculture.” The Kansas Department of Agriculture has selected other recipients to further utilize the funds.
The following is a list of Kansas projects that were selected to be funded by the $336,867 awarded through the 2022 Farm Bill Program:
·
Let’s Explore: $66,082 (Sedgwick County) — Children
First CEO Kansas Inc. and its partners will increase knowledge and sales of
specialty crops in the Sedgwick County metro area through continuing
development of three education gardens and launching a media campaign.
·
Increasing Specialty Crop Access Through
School and Community Gardens: $26,296 (Wyandotte and Johnson counties) —
Kansas City Community Gardens will increase access to specialty crops for
low-income residents and increase willingness to consume crops among low-income
children by creating, expanding, and improving gardens at schools and community
sites.
·
Increasing Consumer Knowledge and
Consumption of Specialty Crops On-Farm in Wyandotte County: $46,690 (Wyandotte
County) — The KC Farm School at Gibbs Road will increase consumer
consumption and awareness of specialty crops through youth and adult
educational opportunities on-farm in Wyandotte County.
·
Marketing Mastery Academy for Specialty
Crop Growers: $72,076 (Statewide) — KDA will partner with a
local marketing entity to facilitate a marketing training program for Kansas
specialty crop growers that helps producers learn marketing practices and
develop marketing plans to implement for their operations in order to increase
the sale of specialty crops.
·
Generating Youth Interest in Specialty
Crop Production Through Expanded Programming at Willow Lake Student Farm:
$71,708 (Statewide) — Kansas State University will expand its
research and educational offerings at Willow Lake Student Farm to position the
farm as the premier small- to mid-scale, diversified farm research and training
center in the Midwest.
·
Expanding Food Safety Training,
Aggregation Capacity, and Access to Local Food in North Central Kansas $34,750
(North Central) — The Mitchell County Regional Medical
Foundation and its partners will offer food safety education and training to
producers, processors, institutions, and community care team members in north
central Kansas.
Due to COVID-19 impacts on the
food system, Congress authorized one-time additional funding for the SCBG Program
outside of the traditional Farm Bill funding under the 2021 Consolidated
Appropriations Act (H.R. 133 Stimulus). The following is a list of Kansas
projects that were selected to be funded by the $449,908 through the H.R. 133
Stimulus Program:
· Kansas’ First American Viticultural Area
Petition Project: $31,196 (Northeast) — The Kansas Viticulture and
Farm Winery Association aims to increase competitiveness and sales of specialty
crop businesses that support the wine industry in northeast Kansas by
conducting research and submitting a petition to U.S. Department of the Treasury’s
Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau to create an American Viticultural
Area.
·
Fresh Food Matters: $66,280 (Sedgwick
County) — Children First CEO Kansas and its partners will increase
knowledge of specialty crops to low-income, mostly minority students, their
families, and neighbors through educational programs in three low-income
neighborhoods located in Sedgwick County.
·
Helping Kansas Farmers Fill Students’ Food
Plates with Fruits and Vegetables: $51,172 (Statewide) — The
Kansas Rural Center will work with partners to create a comprehensive and
accessible resource hub for all specialty crop stakeholders interested in Farm
to School statewide.
·
Building Networking: Grower Connectivity
Toward Meeting Evolving Market Opportunities: $37,755 (Statewide) — The
Kansas Specialty Crop Growers Association will develop an online networking
platform for Kansas growers to augment efforts to address current food access,
availability, and supply concerns.
·
Exploring Cowpea Production for Western
Kansas: $33,793 (Western) — K-State will establish baseline
recommendations for cowpea production by evaluating a wide range of genetics
for adaptability to western Kansas and exploring the basic bounds of production
practices as it specifically relates to inoculation, seeding rates, and
planting dates.
·
Enhancing Specialty Crop Farmer
Competitiveness Statewide Through Online Education and Mentorship: $54,194
(Statewide) — K-State Research and Extension (KSRE) will
lead a collaborative group of specialty crop growers, educators, and not-for-profit
farms through an established network surrounding the Growing Growers Kansas
City Program by developing an online course to train beginning and socially
disadvantaged specialty crop farmers.
·
Evaluating Electrostatic Spraying to
Improve Food Contact Surface Disinfection and Produce Safety and Quality:
$66,705 (Statewide) — KSRE will evaluate the efficacy of
electrostatic spraying technology for disinfection of food contact surfaces and
for postharvest treatment of produce.
·
Controlling the Growth of Foodborne
Pathogens in Soil-Substitute Microgreen Production Systems: $56,679 (Statewide) — K-State
will evaluate the use of titanium dioxide as a disinfection step to reduce the
risk of foodborne pathogens contamination during microgreen production.
·
Increasing Prairieland Market Off-Season
Specialty Crop Value-Added Products: $39,243 (Saline County) —
Prairieland Market will expand its programs to offer value-added specialty crop
products in the off-season by teaching its volunteers and the public how to
preserve and prolong the freshness of local specialty crops for year-round use.
For more information, visit
KDA’s Specialty Crop Block Grant page at the KDA website: agriculture.ks.gov/SpecialtyCropBlockGrant.