Find a Service

I Want To…

Request…

Appliance Pick Up

Learn More about

Local Food Purchase Assistance Program

The Kansas Department of Agriculture was awarded a $5,031,473 cooperative agreement under the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service's Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program.

Funds were used to purchase and distribute Kansas grown and processed foods to underserved communities and families across Kansas.

KDA worked to develop a network of producers, establish a tiered purchasing standard that gave preference to socially disadvantaged and beginning producers to expand their businesses, and ensured that food purchased by the grant was widely distributed across Kansas in rural and urban communities impacted by food insecurity.

The Local Food Purchase Assistance Program provided expanded wholesale market access to producers in the program. Producers were able to grow their capacity by creating a strong foundation of wholesale sales.

Frequently Asked Questions

What types of products were purchased? Was it limited to fresh produce?

What was the definition of “local”?

What was the definition of “domestic”?

Domestic means food that is grown, processed, and otherwise prepared for sale or distribution exclusively in the United States except with respect to minor ingredients. Ingredients from nondomestic sources were allowed to be utilized as a United States product if such ingredients were not otherwise: (1) produced in the United States; and (2) commercially available in the United States at fair and reasonable prices from domestic sources.

Purchase preference was given to socially disadvantaged producers. Who was considered a socially disadvantaged producer?

For the purpose of this program, “socially disadvantaged” is a farmer or rancher who is a member of a Socially Disadvantaged Group. A Socially Disadvantaged Group is a group whose members have been subject to discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and, where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or a part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program.

Did producers need a license with the Kansas Department of Agriculture to participate in the program?

If a producer did not have a license but it is determined they needed one under Kansas regulations, the Kansas Department of Agriculture worked with them to ensure they came under compliance. They were not disqualified from the program if they did not have the proper licensure at the time of their application. More information about the different license types can be found at https://agriculture.ks.gov/kda-services/licensing-guides.