Fresh-cut funding from the rural-focused Patterson Family Foundation is expected to boost food work in Kansas and western Missouri — strengthening businesses rooted in small communities with innovative resources and programs.
New Growth, a nonprofit rural community development corporation based in Appleton City, Missouri, announced a $2.15 million Patterson grant backing the organization’s mission to foster entrepreneurship, enrich local food systems, expand child-care access, and sustain a volunteer driver network.
Specifically, the two-year grant will support New Growth’s continued work with a larger, five-state team of business assistance partners after USDA recently cut funding for the Heartland Regional Food Business Center. (New Growth convenes and supports this growing group effort — now known as the Heartland Food Business Coalition — across Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and northwest Arkansas.)
New Growth plans to hire a farm business counselor and support three partners — The Food Circle, The Kansas City Food Hub, and University of Missouri Extension — in providing business assistance and market access to rural food and farm enterprises in the Patterson Family Foundation’s western Missouri and Kansas catchment area.
Click here to read more about the Patterson Family Foundation’s strategies for thriving rural communities.
Funding includes $1 million for grants to support those enterprises in building their capacity to bring local food products to market.
Among the activities funded by the grant:
- Business training workshops;
- One-on-one business coaching and technical assistance, including market connections;
- Business expansion grants to food and farm entrepreneurs;
- Logistical support to aggregators and distributors of local foods (food hubs);
- Coordination among food hubs for greater regional supply and distribution; and
- Regional resource development, including small farm financing.
“Business assistance tailored to the needs and opportunities of small farms supplying local food markets is an important focus for rural economic development,” said Katie Nixon, director of New Growth’s food systems program. “This grant is a critical and welcome investment in the potential for small farms in our region to be a big part of revitalizing their rural communities and building food supply resilience.”
Heartland Food Business Coalition partners provide specialized and regionally integrated assistance that food and farm entrepreneurs serving local and regional markets have difficulty finding, according to New Growth, noting most food and agricultural business support and market development resources remain largely committed to commodity production for global markets.
