Grants Support Kansas Food Supply Chains

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Many families experienced food insecurity and supply shortages in the past years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Securing Local Food Systems (SLFS) Grant

In 2020, Kansas allocated nearly $12 million of federal CARES Act money to boost the capacity of local food systems through the Securing Local Food Systems (SLFS) grant program. In fall of 2020, the Kansas Department of Agriculture and the Department of Commerce awarded more than 250 grants. Recipients included locally owned meat processors, direct-to-consumer growers, retailers and food banks. The grants support projects that would help strengthen the state’s local food supply chain.

Today, many of those projects are yielding fruitful results.

On the Right Track

Dan Kuhn has been growing fruit and vegetables in Republic County since 1979. A decade later, he transformed a 600-square-foot historic train station in his tiny town of Courtland into a retail outlet for their produce, the Depot Market Inc. The business gradually outgrew its home. In 2020, increased demand from the COVID-19 pandemic made the need for expansion acute.

“We had days last fall where our checkout line was out the front door,” Kuhn says.

With the help of a $50,000 SLFS grant, Kuhn and his wife, Kathy, increased the Depot Market’s footprint to around 1,000 square feet, adding separate restrooms, storage and office space to the original circa 1888 structure. The larger facility offers local customers a more enjoyable shopping experience, whether they’re visiting for U-pick blackberries or choosing fall pumpkins.

“The Depot is part of Courtland and means a lot to our community,” Kuhn says.

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Food on the Move

As both a farmer and the co-founder of the Wichita nonprofit Common Ground Producers and Growers, Donna Pearson McClish knows how to grow food – and how to deliver it to those who need it most. Partnering with a network of local farmers, Common Ground acts as a rolling tailgate market. They began transporting fresh, locally grown produce directly to homebound seniors and food-insecure families. They served more than 30 sites in Sedgwick, Harvey and Butler counties.

Until Common Ground received an SLFS grant of $80,000, the grassroots operation was covering all those miles with just two aging vehicles – a 1994 Dodge and a 2000 Honda. With the injection of funds, Common Ground donated its old delivery vehicles to local residents in need and purchased two new ones with plans in the works to buy two more to effectively double its capacity.

With food insecurity on the rise, Common Ground is grateful for the support of its expansion efforts.

“Before September 2020, we were self-funded – we put our own money into Common Ground – so the grant came at a wonderful time,” Pearson McClish says.

See more: Kansas Agriculture

Helping the Whole Community

When the pandemic paralyzed the nation’s meat-processing capacity in 2020, Aaron Moreland’s small, custom slaughterhouse, Cedar Vale Locker in Chautauqua County, emerged as a vital link in the region’s food supply chain. But in order to scale up to meet the surge in demand, the Locker needed new equipment and upgrades to its outdated electrical system.

A $100,000 SLFS grant gave Moreland the financial boost he needed. He used it to update the plant’s utilities, add a new freezer, and buy a new chute and holding pens. The improvements have allowed him to nearly double his staff and increase capacity 80% from 12 to 14 animals per week to two dozen or more. The growth enabled the business to grow its customer base of ranchers from all over the region.

“I was able to use the funds to the advantage of my business and also to help my community and the region as a whole to produce more local food,” he says. “That’s what it was really for.”

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